Joel Leong is a co-founder of ShopBack. Before it, he worked at Zalora, the fashion retailer, in partnerships with brands and merchants, alongside Henry Chan.
In 2014 six people left Zalora and founded ShopBack in August of that year. Online stores pay affiliates a commission for sending shoppers. ShopBack passed part of that commission back to the shopper as cashback.
Early money was thin: a seed round of over $500,000 in 2014 and a $600,000 round in March 2015. Credit Saison led a $25 million Series A in November 2017, and Rakuten Capital and EV Growth led $45 million in April 2019. By early 2018 annualised sales through ShopBack links passed $500 million across more than 5 million users.
ShopBack bought Seedly in May 2018 and divested it in October 2020. It acquired Ebates Korea in April 2020 and hoolah in November 2021. On 17 September 2020 it suffered a data breach and notified customers eight days later. It now has about 30 million users in 13 countries and is privately held.