Rakuten DX is a software company specialising in

no-code development platform No-code development platforms (NCDPs) allow creating application software through graphical user interfaces and configuration instead of traditional computer programming based on writing code. As with low-code development platforms, it is meant ...

s 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 smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

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

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, France, Rakuten DX is a major

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

Rakuten is a Japanese technology conglomerate based in Tokyo, founded by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997. Centered around the online retail marketplace Rakuten Ichiba, its businesses include financial services utilizing Fintech, digital content and communi ...

Sector

Rakuten DX provides mobile application tools & digital experience services for enterprises designed to support businesses in their digital transformation.

Company history

The founders

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

École Centrale Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

) 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

, France, and also has offices in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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, 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 The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

goes on sale thanks to the Ave!Comics3 tools * 2009: SnapFlow launch * May 2009, creation of Ave!Comics 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 French multinational retail chain specializing in the sale of entertainment Media (communication), media and consumer electronics. Fnac was founded by André Essel and Max Théret in 1954. Its headquarters is located in ''Le Flavia' ...

and

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

enter the market. Launch of mobile apps for:

RMC Sport RMC is a private French-Monégasque radio station created in 1943, broadcasting from France with studios in Paris and Monte-Carlo. RMC stands for Radio Monte-Carlo. History Radio Monte-Carlo was created on 1 July 1943. In 1950, Radio Monte-Carl ...

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, was part of LVMH. In 2010, Alain Weill, the chair ...

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 wi ...

. * 2011: Partnership with Quark to make Aquafadas technology compatible with

Quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei ...

9 et

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 The (; ), commonly known as the , is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine, France. Construction of the began in 1897 following the demolitio ...

Bayard Bayard may refer to: People *Bayard (given name) * Bayard (surname) *Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (1473–1524) French knight Places Antarctica * Bayard Islands, off the coast of Graham Land, Antarctica Canada * Bayard, Saskatch ...

, and Carlsen. * 2012: The Canadian e-reading company

Kobo Inc. Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company that sells ebooks, audiobooks, e-readers and formerly tablet computers. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is a subsidiary of the Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakute ...

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.