Rakuten Viber

Company Overview

Snapshot

Founded in December 2010, Rakuten Viber operates with over 600 employees. The company was acquired by Rakuten in February 2014. In November 2025, Rakuten Viber partnered with Paynetics and Visa to scale Viber Pay across seven markets, advancing its super app strategy.

Business overview

Rakuten Viber is a cross-platform messaging and voice/video calling application that enables users to communicate securely via their phone numbers across mobile and desktop devices. The platform supports one-on-one and group chats, media sharing, and voice/video calls, all secured with end-to-end encryption. Additionally, it offers Viber Out for paid calls to landlines and mobile numbers. For businesses, Rakuten Viber provides messaging products including business messages, campaign messaging, and chatbots, facilitating customer communications and automation within the app. The company operates in the Business Software sector, focusing on communication tools and digital content distribution, serving both consumers and enterprises.

Strategic signal

Rakuten Viber is strategically expanding its financial services, as evidenced by its November 2025 partnership with Paynetics and Visa to enhance and scale Viber Pay across seven European markets. This move is critical for the company's ambition to evolve from a messaging platform into a comprehensive 'super app,' offering instant, secure, and fee-free payments. This signals a significant growth trajectory into embedded finance, aiming to increase user engagement and diversify revenue streams beyond traditional communication services.

Company Intelligence Q&A

What is Rakuten Viber's strategy for expanding its financial services?

In November 2025, Rakuten Viber partnered with Paynetics and Visa to upgrade Viber Pay, rolling it out across seven markets including Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia, Greece, Cyprus, and Germany. This initiative is part of Rakuten Viber's broader strategy to transform into a 'super app' by offering instant, secure, and fee-free payments, providing users with a Visa virtual debit card for online and daily spending.

How is Rakuten Viber leveraging AI in its operations?

In August 2025, Liad Shnell, CTO at Viber, highlighted the transformative impact of AI tools on productivity and efficiency, enabling smaller teams to achieve significant revenue per engineer. This focus on AI integration is reshaping product development and reducing operational costs, contributing to growth-positive outcomes for the company.

What new feature did Rakuten Viber launch in April 2025?

In April 2025, Rakuten Viber launched 'Viber Dating,' a new feature integrated into its communication app, initially available in Vietnam. This feature aims to provide a secure dating experience with end-to-end encryption and user privacy, allowing users to create verified profiles and connect based on shared interests.

When did Rakuten Viber launch its in-app payments service?

In July 2022, Rakuten Viber partnered with Rapyd to launch Viber Pay, an in-app payments service. This service initially enabled peer-to-peer transfers in Germany and Greece, with plans for broader expansion, marking Rakuten Viber's entry into the digital payments market.

When was Rakuten Viber acquired?

Rakuten Viber was acquired by Rakuten in February 2014 for $900 million. This acquisition was part of Rakuten's strategy to expand its internet services ecosystem and penetrate new markets with digital content offerings.