Honey (company)

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Honey
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryCashback website, online coupons
FoundedOctober 2012 (2012-10)
FoundersGeorge Ruan[1]
Ryan Hudson[2]
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California, United States[3]
Area served
Canada, United States
Key people
George Ruan
(CEO)
Ryan Hudson
(Co-founder)
Number of employees
209 (worldwide, 2018)
ParentPayPal[4]
Websitejoinhoney.com

Honey Science Corp., headquartered in Los Angeles, California,[5] operates a browser extension that aggregates and automatically applies online coupons on eCommerce websites.[6] It is a subsidiary of PayPal. Honey's revenue comes from a commission made on user transactions with partnering retailers.[7] When a member makes a purchase from select merchants, Honey shares part of their commission with the member in a cashback program.[8] Users are notified of price drops and price history on selected items sold by participating online stores.[9] Its browser extension is available on Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Microsoft Edge.[10]

History[]

Entrepreneurs Ryan Hudson and George Ruan founded Honey[11] in November 2012 in Los Angeles, California, after building a prototype of the browser extension in late October 2012. A bug tester leaked the tool to Reddit, where it went viral.[12] By March 2014, the company had 900,000 organic users.[13]

Financing history[]

Honey raised a $26 million Series C round, led by Anthos Capital in March 2017.[14] By January 2018, Honey raised a total of $40.8 million in venture backing.[15] On January 6, 2020, it was acquired by PayPal for about $4 billion.[16][17][18]

Marketing[]

Honey has become known for its heavy use of YouTube advertising and channel sponsorships for its marketing. Similarly to NordVPN and Amazon's Audible, it offers paid sponsorships to popular YouTube channels such as MrBeast to expose the service to its viewers.[19] In 2020, Honey launched a web series called "Honey Originals", where Honey partners were interviewed, including segments "20 Questions with _" and "Add To Cart with _".[20][21]

References[]

  1. ^ "Coupon Duo Now Worth $1.5 Billion After Honey's Sale to PayPal". BloombergQuint. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  2. ^ "Coupon Duo Now Worth $1.5 Billion After Honey's Sale to PayPal". BloombergQuint. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  3. ^ Vincent, Roger (August 2018). "Online coupon firm Honey taking over historic Coca-Cola plant in Arts District". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  4. ^ "Coupon Duo Now Worth $1.5 Billion After Honey's Sale to PayPal". BloombergQuint. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  5. ^ Vincent, Roger (August 2018). "Online coupon firm Honey taking over historic Coca-Cola plant in Arts District". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  6. ^ McAlone, Nathan. "14 ways to save money by thinking like a millennial". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  7. ^ Rey, Jason Del (2018-04-02). "Honey — the under-the-radar coupon startup — has held talks to raise around $100 million in a new investment". Recode. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  8. ^ Kane, Libby. "A struggling dad built an app to buy his kids cheaper pizza — and now his company has 5 million downloads and $40 million". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  9. ^ Ellingson, Annlee (January 31, 2018). "How Honey helps users keep their New Year's resolution to save money". American City Business Journals.
  10. ^ Nield, David. "How to Spot Genuine Discounts During Your Holiday Shopping". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  11. ^ "Coupon Duo Now Worth $1.5 Billion After Honey's Sale to PayPal". BloombergQuint. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  12. ^ Shontell, Alyson. "New Coupon Startup 'Honey' Has Had 9 Successful Investor Meetings In A Row". Business Insider.
  13. ^ "Honey Introduces A Universal Cart For Online Shoppers Where Savings Are Automatically Applied". TechCrunch.
  14. ^ Pierson, David. "Can't find a coupon code? This L.A. start-up does all the work for you". Los Angeles Times.
  15. ^ Ketchum, Dan (11 April 2019). "Got a Problem? Turn It Into a Business Like These 15 Companies". www.gobankingrates.com.
  16. ^ "PayPal Completes Acquisition of Honey" (Press release). PR Newswire. January 6, 2020.
  17. ^ Taulli, Tom. "Why PayPal Paid $4 Billion For Honey Science". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  18. ^ Peters, Jay (2019-11-20). "PayPal acquires the company behind the Honey deal-finding extension for $4 billion". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  19. ^ Weiss, Geoff (November 21, 2019). "Browser Extension 'Honey', A Frequent Shane Dawson And MrBeast Sponsor, Acquired For $4 Billion". Tubefilter. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  20. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: 20 Questions with MrBeast | Honey Originals. YouTube.
  21. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Add to Cart with Gibi ASMR | Honey Originals. YouTube.
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