Capital One buys online shopping comparison startup

With more than two million members, Wikibuy is a free tool that removes friction from the online shopping process by automating cross-site price comparisons in real time while consumers shop. The firm then also locates and applies active coupon codes at checkout and provides product price tracking and alerts.

The “wiki” in Wikibuy is a nod to the way that one customer’s shopping helps other customers find savings. Similar to navigation app Waze, when one customer finds a good price on a product, other customers who have looked at that product are notified of the savings available. 

Joe Poellnitz, SVP, US card, Capital One Financial, says: "We believe that the future of banking is in providing intelligent, real-time banking tools that proactively anticipate and deliver on what consumers need.

"With Wikibuy, we've acquired an innovative startup that fits squarely within this objective. Together we can give our customers tools to help them save time, money, and the ability to shop with confidence."

Capital One has a history of buying small firms bringing innovative technology to bear on the customer experience, including Bundle, BankOns, Adaptive Path, Level Money and Monsoon. In 2016 it acquired Paribus, a startup in a similar field to WikiBuy, that alerts users to online price drops.