ShopBack
17 known investors
Largest rewards and discovery platform in Asia-Pacific, powering over US$4 billion in annual sales across 12 countries.
Also known as ECOMMERCE ENABLERS PTE. LTD. · ShopBack Group
Investors · 17
Also in the syndicate · 9
Company profile
researched Aug 2026ShopBack is a cashback rewards platform that lets shoppers earn a percentage of their spending back in cash when they click through from ShopBack's app, website or browser extension to partner merchants. Merchants pay ShopBack affiliate commissions on completed sales, and ShopBack returns part of that commission to the shopper as withdrawable cash rather than points. Beyond core online cashback, the platform provides coupons and voucher codes, product comparison, QR code payment, gift vouchers, and buy-now-pay-later, and it has added gamified earning mechanics such as quests, streaks, bonuses and mobile games.
The Taiwan-facing site (shopback.com.tw) markets cashback across e-commerce, travel booking, food delivery and gaming, with partner brands including Uber Eats, Booking.com, Agoda, Trip.com, Klook, KKday, PChome 24h, Shopee (蝦皮), Taobao, Watsons, Apple, Disney+ and eslite. Taiwanese users can withdraw cash rewards to a bank account once the balance reaches NT$200, with transfers arriving in roughly three to five days and a NT$10-15 fee for most banks; balances expire if the account records no successful transaction for a year. ShopBack Taiwan suspended its receipt-based offline cashback (發票回饋) programme on 30 January 2024.
The company also sells to businesses: merchants list on the ShopBack network and pay on completed sales rather than clicks or impressions, and ShopBack offers a rewards-as-a-service product that lets banks, telcos, airlines and points operators run cash-based shopping rewards inside their own apps while ShopBack operates the network and payouts behind the scenes.
Founding story
ShopBack was founded in August 2014 by Henry Chan, Joel Leong, Lai Shanru and Josephine Chow, all former Zalora employees; Leong had been Zalora SEA's regional head of partnerships. Having worked as advertisers, the founders set out to address the cost and inefficiency of non-performance-based marketing while giving consumers a more rewarding shopping experience. The company started out of BLOCK71 by NUS Enterprise in Singapore, where the team worked from a small room, and recruited many early hires from former Zalora colleagues, including chief commercial officer Candice Ong.
Business model
ShopBack earns affiliate commissions from merchant partners on sales it refers and shares part of that commission with shoppers as cash rewards; merchants are charged on completed sales rather than clicks or impressions, and the platform does not handle the shopper's payment flow for referred orders. Additional lines include paid merchant placements around peak sale events such as 11.11 and 12.12, an embedded rewards-as-a-service offering for banks, telcos, airlines and points operators, plus payments (ShopBack Pay), gift vouchers and buy-now-pay-later.
Performance-based affiliate commissions from merchant partners, supplemented by paid campaign placements and white-label rewards services.
Traction
Company materials cite 20M+ active members, 20K+ merchant partners and US$900M+ saved by members, with a co-founder interview citing over 50 million shoppers across 13 markets, 60M+ users and more than US$4 billion in annual sales for merchant partners. The Taiwan site reports 20 million annual active shoppers, 20,000 partner brands, 500,000 daily transactions and NT$28 billion in cashback paid out. The Android app has 50M+ downloads and cites over 45 million shoppers globally and more than 3,500 stores and 4,700 ShopBack Pay outlets. Wikipedia cites 30 million users and, as of early 2018, an order every two seconds with annualised sales above US$500 million and 5 million users.
Latest developments
ShopBack has entered the United States with partnerships including Walmart and Expedia, and in July 2026 became the Official Shopping Rewards Sponsor of Texas Athletics, with a ShopBack Gate at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium launching for the 2026 football season. The company is promoting AI-driven features (assistant, photo search, personalized picks, price alerts) and an embedded rewards-as-a-service offering for banks, telcos and airlines.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
ShopBack describes itself as the No.1 cash rewards app in Asia-Pacific, operating in 13 markets and serving 20M+ active members and 20K+ merchant partners. In Taiwan it is positioned alongside other referral/cashback sites such as LINE 購物 as an intermediary between shoppers and e-commerce platforms.
The company positions on paying real, withdrawable cash rather than points or restricted rewards, gamified earning through quests, streaks, bonuses and mobile games, mobile-first design, and cashback on large merchants such as Amazon and Walmart in the US. In Taiwan, coverage highlights broad merchant coverage spanning online platforms, overseas retailers and offline stores, high promotional cashback rates, and easy price comparison.
Technology
ShopBack operates a mobile app, website and Chrome browser extension that detects partner merchants and tracks referred orders through affiliate links; cashback is confirmed after the merchant verifies the purchase and is withdrawable via PayPal or bank transfer in selected markets. The company describes AI-based features including a conversational assistant for price comparison, image search that identifies a product and its price and cash savings, personalized recommendations, and price-watch alerts. Other product components include ShopBack Pay for online and offline payment, in-app gift vouchers, and gamified quests and streaks.
Go-to-market
Consumer acquisition runs through the mobile app, website and Chrome extension, app-exclusive rewards, and large seasonal shopping events; ShopBack runs ShopFest, an annual campaign from September (November in Australia) through December encompassing 9.9, 10.10, 11.11, Black Friday/Cyber Monday and 12.12 sales, plus MyCyberSale in Malaysia, Harbolnas in Indonesia and Click Frenzy in Australia. Merchant acquisition is pitched on pay-per-sale performance, localized campaigns and evidence of results from existing markets; sponsorships such as Texas Athletics support US market entry.
Online and in-store shoppers in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US, with a stated focus on mobile-first, price-conscious Gen Z and millennial users; on the supply side, merchant partners across retail, travel, food delivery, beauty, fashion and consumer electronics, and enterprises such as banks, telcos and airlines seeking embedded rewards.
Geography
Headquartered in Singapore (65 Pasir Panjang Road, Campus by ShopBack). Available in 13 markets: Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Vietnam, South Korea, Hong Kong, Germany, New Zealand and the United States.
History
Founded in Singapore in August 2014, ShopBack raised seed capital shortly after launch and expanded from Singapore across Southeast Asia, then into Australia and South Korea, later Germany, and most recently the United States. It acquired Singapore personal finance platform Seedly in May 2018 and divested it to CompareAsiaGroup in October 2020. In April 2020 it entered South Korea by acquiring Ebates Korea. The company suffered a data breach on 17 September 2020 and notified customers on 25 September 2020. In November 2021 it acquired 100 percent of Singapore BNPL platform hoolah, marking its entry into financial services. It raised a US$80 million round led by Asia Partners in June 2022 and extended an oversubscribed Series F with US$80 million from 65 Equity Partners. In Taiwan, receipt-based cashback was suspended from 30 January 2024. In July 2026 it was named Official Shopping Rewards Sponsor of Texas Athletics.
Risks & controversies
ShopBack suffered a data breach on 17 September 2020, disclosed to customers eight days later on 25 September 2020; Singapore's data privacy watchdog investigated the incident. Taiwanese consumer coverage notes operational drawbacks including long cashback validation times (about two months), a NT$200 withdrawal threshold with a NT$10-15 fee for most banks, expiry of balances after a year of inactivity, and occasional untracked orders where users do not receive cashback. Taiwan's receipt-based cashback service was suspended from 30 January 2024.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
3 people who came through ShopBack went on to found or lead other companies.
Competitors · 1
by search overlap
Companies competing with ShopBack for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 9
launches, deals, and filings$500K source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- ShopBackshopback.com.tw · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does ShopBack do?
- Cashback and rewards platform operating in 13 markets across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US, with a Taiwan storefront at shopback.com.tw.
- Who are ShopBack's investors?
- ShopBack's investors include AppWorks Ventures, East Ventures, Qualgro, Quest Ventures, Venturra, Asia Partners, Credit Saison, January Capital.