European entrepreneurs' start-up takes strategic stakes in coupon company Piku after similar deals in Germany and China.
Rebate Networks, a Germany-based media company founded by two serial European entrepreneurs, has made its second investment in a Japanese coupon website.
Piku Media is raising Y650m ($7.3m) from Rebate after closing a Y250m round from the group earlier in the year, according to ACN Newswire. The latest round for Piku saw Rebate joined by local venture capital firms Global Venture Capital and DIT Partners.
Piku was started in November 2004 as Japan’s first discount coupon business.
Rebate has also invested in other coupon sites round the world, including dailydeal.de in Germany in June (for a 26% share, according to German magazine Gruenderszene) and lashou.com in China.
Rebate was co-founded by Michael Brehm, who was previously a managing director at studiVZ.net where he helped to build the company into Germany’s largest social network, and Stefan Glaenzer.
Glaenzer co-founded Last.fm, a global music service sold to CBS for £140m ($280m), and Ricardo, eastern Europe’s largest auctioning firm that after a merger was sold to South Africa media group Naspers for £946m. Glaenzer is currently the chief executive of White Bear Yard, a venture hub based in London.