Paribus
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryTechnology
Software
Founded2014
FounderEric Glyman (CEO)
Karim Atiyeh (CTO)
HeadquartersBrooklyn, NY
Area served
Worldwide
ParentCapital One
Websitewww.paribus.co

Paribus was an American company and creator of the price tracking app of the same name, which synced with a user's email account to scan for receipts and negotiated with online companies to refund the difference if there was a price drop shortly after a purchase.

History

Paribus was founded in 2014 by Eric Glyman and Karim Atiyeh.[1] The company is based in Brooklyn, New York.[1] The name is derived from the Latin phrase ceteris paribus, meaning "all others things being equal."[2]

Glyman built Paribus to simplify the process of receiving a refund following a price drop, which can be complicated to track and often go unclaimed. He and fellow Harvard University alumnus Atiyeh conceived of the idea and started working on the concept in the summer of 2013.[3][4] After launching in beta in September 2014,[3] the app launched publicly at TechCrunch Disrupt New York on May 5, 2015.[1][5] Paribus released its iOS app on August 6, 2015,[6] and its Android app on April 28, 2016.[7]

In October 2015, Paribus announced that it had raised $2.1 million in seed funding, following its participation in the Y Combinator summer program and Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt NY. The funding round was led by General Catalyst Partners, and also included Greylock Partners, Foundation Capital, Soma Capital and Mick Johnson, Facebook's former director of product.[8]

In October 2016, it was announced that Paribus had been acquired by Capital One.[9][10] Since then, Paribus has continued to launch new products to help save users time and money and has reportedly found more than $20,000,000 in savings for their over 3,000,000 users. As of January 2023, Capital One discontinued the Capital One Price Protection feature of Capital One Shopping. [11]

Software

Paribus connected to a user's email account to scan messages for receipts from e-commerce retailers.[12][13] The app tracked the user's purchases and, if an item goes on sale shortly after the purchase, Paribus contacted customer service departments in the user's name to file a price adjustment claim and request a refund of the difference.[14][15][16] It was also able to detect coupons or promo codes that could have been applied to a purchase, and have the coupon redeemed retroactively.[17][18] The app is free.[19] After the acquisition closed with Capital One, Paribus users began to keep 100% of the savings. It was available on the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and on Android smartphones and tablets.[20]

At its launch, the service worked with 18 major retailers, including Amazon.com, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Macy's and Newegg.[8][21] This list had grown to 29 retailers in the United States by December 2017. The company states that the average user saves between $60 and $100 per year.[12] As of October 2016, it had over 700,000 users.[9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Perez, Sarah (2015-05-05). "Paribus Can Save You Money When Online Prices Drop". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  2. ↑ Money, J. (2017-07-17). "4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene". Budgets Are Sexy. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  3. 1 2 D'Onfro, Jillian. "These 20-somethings will help you get the rebates that online stores owe you". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  4. ↑ Rebecca Strong, "Harvard Grads' App Gets Your Money Back When Something You Bought Goes on Sale," BostInno, May 21, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Free Money, of a Sort: Paribus Gets You Refunds You Didn't Know You Had Coming". www.yahoo.com. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  6. ↑ Casey Newton, "Paribus launches an app to fight against hidden price discrimination," The Verge, August 6, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Paribus for Android pays you when something you bought gets a price drop – Phandroid". phandroid.com. 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  8. 1 2 Perez, Sarah (2015-10-07). "Paribus Raises $2.1 Million For Its Service That Saves Online Shoppers Money When Prices Drop". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  9. 1 2 Sarah Perez, "Capital One acquires online price tracker Paribus," TechCrunch, October 6, 2016.
  10. ↑ Antony Peyton, "Capital One buys online price tracker Paribus," Banking Technology, October 10, 2016.
  11. ↑ Sabatier, Grant. "Capital One Price Protection Review". Millennial Money. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  12. 1 2 Lauren Zumbach, "Apps track emails, receipts to spot potential price-match refunds," Chicago Tribune, May 24, 2016.
  13. ↑ Janet Berry-Johnson, "Want To Save Money Shopping Online? There's An App For That," Forbes, March 21, 2016.
  14. ↑ Stefano Marra, "This Money-Saving App Bugs Retailers and Gets You Refunds," Wired, August 18, 2016.
  15. ↑ Rick Broida, "How to get price-drop refunds without even trying," CNet, May 25, 2016.
  16. ↑ Erin Barry, "Paribus looks into your email, but only to help save you cash," CNBC, February 28, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Paribus: The app that gets you price-drop refunds," Archived 2016-10-11 at the Wayback Machine WUSA, September 7, 2016.
  18. ↑ Erin Barry, "Start-up finds cash for online shoppers," CNBC, October 7, 2015.
  19. ↑ Doug Aamoth, "Free App Friday: Never, Ever Pay Full Price For Anything," Fast Company, December 4, 2015.
  20. ↑ Kristin Wong, "Paribus, the App that Automatically Refunds Price Drops, Comes to iPhone and Android," Lifehacker, April 27, 2016.
  21. ↑ Zach Epstein, "New free service automatically gets you money back when items you've already bought go on sale," Boy Genius Report, May 22, 2015.
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