You Might Have Gotten Some Cashback With This BLOCK71 Startup
Henry Chan (left) and Joel Leong (right) the co-founders of ShopBack at BLOCK71.
ShopBack was launched in 2014 with a simple but powerful goal: to reward savvy shoppers for making smart decisions.
Inspired by successful cashback models from the US and UK, and drawing on their eCommerce experience in Zalora and SingPost, Henry Chan and Joel Leong saw a huge untapped opportunity in Southeast Asia.
However, educating potential users about the cashback concept proved to be a significant hurdle.
Founding team of ShopBack – (Clockwise from top left) Henry Chan, Joel Leong, Bryan Chua, Lai Shanru, Samantha Soh and Derrick Goh. Photo credit: ShopBack.
Cashback? What’s that?
During ShopBack’s early days, people’s scepticism about cashback was significant—the idea of earning cash while shopping didn’t come across as ‘natural’.
The founders worked hard to educate new users on the platform’s core proposition—earning back a percentage of the purchase as cashback, which can either be transferred to their bank account or accumulated to offset future purchases.
Despite such efforts, resistance remained strong.
Many discouraged the founding team from pursuing the concept. Once, a grant application was criticised for being not innovative enough.
But they didn’t give up.
The founders were constantly on the road pitching to brand merchants and investors, while fielding large volumes of enquiries, oftentimes till as late as 2 a.m.
It didn’t take long before their grit caught the attention of investors, who were convinced by their tenacity and soon offered the first wave of investments to take ShopBack to the next level.
In April 2014, ShopBack raised US$500k in seed funding from Accel-X and other investors—even before the platform was officially launched. A further US$600k round was raised in March 2015, from Accel-X and East Ventures, offering a strong validation of the cashback model’s potential.
Revolutionising Online Shopping
Since then, ShopBack has experienced incredible growth, proving that persistence truly pays off.
With a strategic blend of mobile-first innovation and being firmly attuned to local nuances, ShopBack has today become Asia-Pacific’s leading shopping, rewards, and payments platform.
The company serves over 45 million shoppers across 12 markets with more than half a million transactions daily; over US$4 billion in annual sales through its network of over 20,000 online and in-store partners.
Like many entrepreneurs, Henry and Joel faced numerous setbacks along the way—challenges that tested their resolve and forced them to make difficult decisions.
Yet through perseverance, innovation, and a relentless focus on their customers, they’ve turned challenges into opportunities and created lasting impact for shoppers.
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