Rakuten DX is a software company specialising in no-code development platforms to build

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

s for smartphones, tablets and web designed for enterprises and digital publishers. Headquartered in Montpellier,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, Rakuten DX is a major subsidiary of Rakuten.

Sector

Rakuten DX provides mobile application tools & digital experience services for enterprises designed to support businesses in their digital transformation. With Rakuten DX software companies can build smartphone, tablet and web apps for their sales reps, investors and communications teams. Aquafadas also specialises in solutions for digital newspapers, magazines and e-text books.

Company history

The founders

Claudia Zimmer (CEO), previously an architect, and Matthieu Kopp (CTO) with a degree of engineering (

École Centrale Paris École Centrale Paris (ECP; also known as École Centrale or Centrale) was a French grande école in engineering and science. It was also known by its official name ''École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures''. In 2015, École Centrale Paris mer ...

) and PhD in astrophysics. With 11 years of software development experience, they previously spent 5 years running the Application Networks startup in London and founded Aquafadas in 2006.

Headquarters

Rakuten DX headquarters are in Montpellier, France, and also has offices in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Key dates

* 2004: Creation of the first software, iDive * 2006: Aquafadas founded as a company by Claudia Zimmer and Matthieu Kopp. PulpMotion, the second software, launches. * 2007: BannerZest – software designed to create Flash banners – enters the market. The same year

Ave!Comics Ave!Comics Production is a privately owned French company editing comics on smartphones, tablets and computers. It was founded in 2008 and it is a subsidiary of Aquafadas, a software development company in digital publishing owned by Kobo Inc.br> ...

, book store for digital comic books owned by Aquafadas, starts to gain attention in the comic books world. * 2008: VideoPier launch * December 2008, the latest Lucky Luke comic book on iPhone goes on sale thanks to the

3 tools * 2009: SnapFlow launch * May 2009, creation of

3 Production * 2010: BannerZest for Windows goes live. BannerZest Fun Pics Facebook app launches. Plug-in PulpFx created in partnership with Noise Industries goes live. Digital publications for

Fnac Fnac () is a large French retail chain selling culture, cultural and consumer electronics, electronic products, founded by André Essel and Max Théret in 1954. Its head office is in ''Le Flavia'' in Ivry-sur-Seine near Paris. It is an abbreviati ...

and

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

enter the market. Launch of mobile apps for:

RMC Sport Radio Monte Carlo (RMC) is the name of radio stations owned and managed by several different entities: *RMC (France) is a French-speaking station, broadcasting in France and Monaco owned by NextRadioTV. **RMC Sport, a French bouquet of paid TV ...

La Tribune ''La Tribune'' () is a French weekly financial newspaper founded in 1985 by Bruno Bertez. Its main competitor is the French newspaper '' Les Échos'', which is currently owned by LVMH. From 1993 to 2007, ''La Tribune'' was part of LVMH. In 2010 ...

and

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

. * 2011: Partnership with Quark to make Aquafadas technology compatible with Quark 9 et Quark QPS. Adobe InDesign 4 Plugin designed for digital publishing goes live. New clients using Aquafadas tools for their digital publications: La Réunion des Musées Nationaux – Grand Palais,

Bayard Bayard may refer to: People * Bayard (given name) * Bayard (surname) *Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (1473–1524) French knight Places * Bayard, Delaware, an unincorporated community *Bayard (Jacksonville), Florida, a neighborhood * Bayard ...

, and Carlsen. * 2012: The Canadian e-reading company Kobo_Inc. acquires Aquafadas. * 2017: Aquafadas becomes a major subsidiary of the Rakuten Group, appointing Yasufumi Hirai as Chairman and Koichiro Takahara as CEO. * July 2017: Aquafadas becomes Rakuten Aquafadas as a part of corporate rebranding and integration within the Rakuten Group * November 23, 2020: Rakuten Aquafadas becomes Rakuten DX.

International presence

Partner network

Rakuten DX has an international presence with 25 partner companies across the world: * Latin America: Panama ; Mexico ; Brazil ; San Salvador ; Argentina ; Costa Rica. * North America: Canada ; USA. * EMEA : Emirates ; Kuwait ; Turkey ; France ; Spain ; Italy. * Asia : Japan (3 partners), China (3 partners), Thailand.

Kobo acquisition in 2012

With the acquisition by the Canadian e-reading company in 2012, Aquafadas became part of the Rakuten group.

Notes

{{Authority control Companies based in Languedoc-Roussillon Publishing software Software companies of France Rakuten Software companies established in 2006 French companies established in 2006 Kobo Inc.