PayPal Honey, formerly known as Honey, is an American technology company and a subsidiary of PayPal known for developing a browser extension that aggregates and automatically applies online coupons on eCommerce websites.
Entrepreneurs Ryan Hudson and George Ruan founded Honey[1] in November 2012 in Los Angeles, California, after building a prototype of the browser extension in late October 2012. A bug tester leaked the tool to Reddit, where it went viral.[3] By March 2014, the company had 900,000 organic users.[4]
Honey raised a $26 million Series C round, led by Anthos Capital in March 2017.[5] By January 2018, Honey raised a total of $40.8 million in venture backing.[6]
On January 6, 2020, it was acquired by PayPal for about $4 billion.[7][8][9] Nearly immediately after PayPal acquired Honey, Amazon claimed to its users that the extension was a security risk that sold personal information. A Wired magazine article, written shortly after the acquisition, questioned whether the claim was motivated by PayPal's newly acquired ability to compete against Amazon.[10]
In June 2022, the company was renamed PayPal Honey.[11]
PayPal Honey has become known for its heavy use of YouTube advertising and channel sponsorships for its marketing. Similarly to NordVPN, Amazon's Audible and Raid: Shadow Legends, it offers paid sponsorships to popular YouTube channels to advertise the service to its viewers.[12]
In 2020, PayPal Honey launched a web series called "Honey Originals", where Honey partners were interviewed, including segments "20 Questions with _" and "Add To Cart with _".[14][15]
PayPal Honey's revenue comes from a commission made on user transactions with partner retailers.[16] When a member makes a purchase from merchants partnering with the company, Honey shares part of their commission with the member in a cashback program.[17] Users are notified of price drops and price history on selected items sold by participating online stores.[18]
