High flyers – Communitech

Canada’s two largest digital shopping flyer companies are joining forces through a deal that will see Toronto-based Flipp acquire its biggest competitor, Kitchener-based reebee.

The two companies provide similar apps, which help shoppers browse for retail discounts and search for local stores and products.

“Flipp is on a mission to deliver unique digital shopping experiences to every Canadian household,” said CEO Michael Silverman. “With the addition of reebee, we have two of Canada’s most trusted shopping brands coming together to expand the Flipp shopper consideration platform.”

Flipp’s new platform, which was unveiled as part of the acquisition announcement, enables retailers and brands to “intercept shoppers during the critical consideration phase of the shopping journey.”

“We are excited to help our partners move from online ads that shoppers actively avoid to experiences that shoppers actively seek out,” said Silverman.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Flipp plans to retain the reebee brand and keep a reebee office in Kitchener. The 80 reebee employees – including co-founders Michal Martyniak and Tobiasz Dankiewicz – will stay on.

“Joining forces with Flipp was the next logical phase in our journey to support shoppers, retailers and brands,” said Dankiewicz. “We couldn’t be more excited to combine our strengths behind our shared vision.” 

Dankiewicz and Martyniak founded reebee in 2012, shortly after completing their degrees in mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo.

They received early support through UW’s Velocity program, California-based Y Combinator and Communitech’s former Rev accelerator.