ShopKick’s $200M Payday

U.S.-based Shopkick is heading toward full acquisition by South Korean wireless company SK Telecom.

SK has agreed to pay about $200 million for the  shopping loyalty app, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The South Korean telecom gains a new foothold in the U.S. market with the acquisition and a new stream of data from mobile phones. This investment fits in with an overall strategic move toward the U.S. market where SK has pledged to spend $500 million to $1 billion over the next three to five years.

Shopkick’s spin on mobile loyalty offers users kicks, in-app nomenclature for points, for simply entering a store while using the app.  Those kicks can be traded in for gift cards at vendors such as Macy’s or Crate and Barrel–scanning bar codes also provides an opportunity for kicks. The company started out testing its app in two Macy’s stores using beacons. So far it has raked in $20 million in funding from Graylock Partners, Kliener, Perkins Caufield & Byers and SV Angle.  It’s revenue was a little more than $26 million last year, reports Forbes.

SK had previously invested  $6 million into Frankly, a mobile messaging app that sends self-deleting notes. Launched only last year, the app has 8 million users. Shopkick’s beacons were designed to send users information about a particular section of the store and could deliver coupons or other information.