Founder Bryan Leach had the idea for Ibotta on an international flight after watching a fellow passenger upload a receipt for an expense report. He thought, what if you could simply upload a picture of a receipt and get instant cash back? What if there was a single starting point on your phone where you could earn cash for anything you bought, regardless of whether you shop online or offline?
Fast forward seven years, and Ibotta is now one of the most frequently used shopping apps in the US, partnering with more than 1,500 leading brands and retailers. Ibotta has paid back over $1 billion to users in the last seven years and more than 35 million people have downloaded the app.
Ibotta started as a way for consumers to earn cash back on groceries and everyday purchases. Since its founding, that original idea has evolved into a mission to “Make every purchase rewarding” — expanding the ways and places consumers use the app to earn cash back. Ibotta began offering cash back on alcohol purchases in 2014 and launched rewards for online and mobile purchases in 2016. Most recently, Ibotta introduced a way for shoppers to earn cash back on purchases made from their computer with the Ibotta browser extension.
The app is available on both iOS and Android devices and is available only in the United States as of October 2016. Ibotta claims to work at over 500,000 locations within the United States. In 2019, the company introduced Pay with Ibotta, a way to pay for purchases using gift cards while receiving cash back rewards.
In 2019, Ibotta announced it’s raised a Series D, valuing the Denver-based company at $1 billion and making it one of Colorado’s few unicorns.
According to home.ibotta.com; en.wikipedia and builtincolorado.com. Source of photos: internet
