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Honey started as a browser extension. Just sold for 4 billion

by joshdance

Crazy. Reading their story, they couldn't raise money and one of the cofounders took a full time job while they were figuring it out.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/20/paypal-to-acquire-shopping-and-rewards-platform-honey-for-4-billion/

So what can we learn? Start small. And do something that provides value.

Avatar for user @joshdance joshdance
on November 21, 2019
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  1. 2

    Wow. Just wow.

    User Avatar SebastianHox
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    6 years ago
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  2. 1

    True. The news is a big boost for indies.

    User Avatar shree
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    6 years ago
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  3. 1

    Really wow. Or is this some sort of joke?

    I kept seeing ads for Honey but it always seemed a bit scamy. The article said that they were profitable. Do you know how they make money? Is it commission for merchants? Selling data - if yes what data and to whom? Ads?

    Were they doing anything that I'm missing? I know they collect and try coupon codes at checkout.

    And most importantly: why? just why would PayPal buy them for so much? I think I'm missing the value PayPal is getting out of this - it surely isn't the tech. 17 million users is quite a lot; that potentially means 17 million Pay with PayPal extra buttons that live in users' browser. But is that it?

    User Avatar vla_ve
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    6 years ago
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    1. 1

      The value is in the vast amount of purchase data Honey has amassed. Honey harvests data while providing value. Similar to how Hola VPN leveraged it's residential IP data to launch the Luminati.io proxy service which was then sold for hundreds of millions of dollars.

      User Avatar brenms
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      6 years ago
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    2. 1

      Had some of the same thoughts. From what I understand PayPal doesn't want to be just payment competing with credit cards and Apple Pay, they want to be part of the buying process as well.

      I use Honey and it is not super scamy. It finds me coupons. However I don't know how the valuation gets to 4 billion dollars.

      This article looks at is it worth it. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4308268-paypal-honey-worth-money

      Avatar for user @joshdance joshdance
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      6 years ago
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      1. 3

        Sharing the PayPal's deck about the acquisition. They have put reasons. https://investor.paypal-corp.com/static-files/b6086399-6750-4bec-966c-8ebf768451d3
        Also, someone referred to their webcast and mentioned Honey's revenue as 100m

        https://twitter.com/tanayj/status/1197325483534213121

        the webcast

        User Avatar shree
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        6 years ago
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        1. 2

          I knew there was a deck and I was looking for it. Thanks!

          Avatar for user @joshdance joshdance
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          6 years ago
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    User Avatar DeletedUser
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    6 years ago
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