What is Curbside?
Founded in 2013 by former Apple location innovation leaders, Curbside—now Rakuten Ready—specializes in predictive arrival technology. The company provides a sophisticated platform that enables retailers to streamline their order-for-pickup programs, ensuring that store operations are synchronized with customer arrival times. This capability is critical for modern omnichannel retail, where the efficiency of the curbside pickup experience directly impacts customer retention and operational overhead.
By partnering with industry giants such as Kroger, Nordstrom, and Chick-fil-A, the company has solidified its position as a vital component of the retail technology stack. Its market position is defined by its ability to transform raw location data into actionable insights, allowing retailers to reduce wait times and improve the overall efficiency of their fulfillment centers. Following its acquisition by the Rakuten family in 2018, the company has accelerated its global reach, further cementing its role as a foundational player in the future of retail logistics.
How much funding has Curbside raised?
Curbside has raised a total of $34.9M across 4 funding rounds:
Angel/Seed
$1.5M
Series A
$8M
Series B
$25M
Debt
$350K
Angel/Seed (2013): $1.5M with participation from AME Cloud, WGI Group, Innovation Endeavors, TenOneTen, and Chicago Ventures
Series A (2014): $8M led by Index Ventures, WGI Group, Innovation Endeavors, Ou2019Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, TenOneTen, AME Cloud Ventures, and Chicago Ventures
Series B (2015): $25M supported by Index Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, and Sutter Hill Ventures
Debt (2020): $350K featuring PPP
Key Investors in Curbside
Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a venture firm investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs from seed to IPO, partnering with founders who challenge the status quo to build enduring companies.
AME Cloud Ventures
A venture fund led by Jerry Yang focusing on seed to later stage companies that build infrastructure and value chains around data, supporting entrepreneurs with operational experience.
Innovation Endeavors
An early-stage venture capital firm that invests in visionary founders and transformational technologies, with a thesis centered on the intersection of data, computation, and engineering.
What's next for Curbside?
Looking ahead, the strategic focus for the organization remains centered on the expansion of its predictive arrival ecosystem. With the support of its recent capital infusion, the company is well-positioned to enhance its algorithmic capabilities and deepen its integration with existing enterprise resource planning systems. As consumer expectations for seamless, contactless pickup continue to rise, the firm is likely to prioritize further innovation in real-time location tracking and automated store-side communication.
The integration into the broader Rakuten ecosystem provides a unique advantage, allowing for cross-pollination of data and technology that can drive further efficiencies in the retail sector. Future growth will likely be characterized by a continued emphasis on scalability, enabling the company to support an even wider array of global brands while maintaining the high level of precision required for modern, high-volume retail environments.
