Japanese giant snaps up majority stake in Singapore’s Rewardz

Photo credit: psisa / 123RF.

Singapore-based HR solutions provider Rewardz today announced that it sold a majority stake to Benefit One, a Japanese company that specializes in fringe benefits. The deal was valued at US$2.1 million.

“One of the biggest challenges faced by any tech startup is funding the company until it scales up sufficiently to support itself,” says Rewardz CEO Sudhanshu Tewari in a statement. “This long-term strategic partnership with Benefit One has solved this crucial problem for us.”

With a market cap of US$1 billion, Tokyo-listed Benefit One caters to corporations that outsource the provision of their fringe benefits such as car plans and health insurance. It operates in Japan, the US, Germany, China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore, with nearly eight million members in Japan alone.

On the other hand, Rewardz offers innovative products like EmPerks and Flabuless, which integrate traditional corporate benefits programs with an app that allows staff to better visualize their benefits and track their health progress. The platform also allows employers to reward their workers.

Rewardz has landed more than 50 clients over the last four years, including DBS, Manulife, Disney, Fuji Xerox, DB Schenker, Intercontinental Hotel Group, and Ascott Holdings, among others. Those clients together have over 200,000 employees. Apart from Singapore, Rewardz is present in Dubai, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia.

With Benefit One’s support, the startup will focus on turning its entities in Singapore, Malaysia, and Dubai profitable next year.

“Although there are no immediate plans to enter the Japan market for Rewardz, we will be working toward integrating our technology into the Benefit One platform in Japan in the future,” Sudhanshu reveals.

We’ve reached out to Sudhanshu for more details on this deal and the company’s financials and we’ll update this article when we get a response.

Converted from Singapore dollars. Rate: US$1 = SGD 1.43.