Case Study

Overview

• Influenster is a leading provider of a web- and mobile-based product discovery platform and online community, where members find new consumer products and get advice to make better informed purchasing decisions
• Users engage with the platform via user-generated content, including reviews, photos, product Q&As and documented experiences in the form of social sampling and digital challenges as well as coupons and offers that they discover along the way
• Influenster offers users a seamless, immersive social experience that fully integrates products into their everyday lives, in turn rendering the Company’s platform a conduit for brands to converse directly in the digital sphere with a highly-engaged customer base

Situation

• Influenster is a bootstrapped, founder-owned company with management goals to scale the business and continue to offer rich insight to its branded partners
• The Company sought a partner that could expedite this growth, as well as broaden current capabilities

Cascadia Process

• Cascadia initially went out to a select group of potential financial and strategic partners. Based on the Company’s objective to identify an investment partner that could add value beyond capital, the potential investors were narrowed to strategic partners during the process
• Ebates, which was bought by the Japanese holding corporation, Rakuten, in 2014, is a leading online cashback shopping platform and immediately positioned itself as a likely candidate
• Due to existing synergy between the companies and a shared future vision of providing consumers with a more comprehensive and better online shopping experience, Ebates was an ideal partner for the Company
• Cascadia Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor to Influenster