About Play.com
Play.com is a Retail company based in Cambridge (United Kingdom) founded in 1998 by Richard Goulding, Peter de Bourcier, and Simon Perree, and was acquired by Rakuten in September 2011. An online marketplace for entertainment and diverse products is operated. Its website play.com draws about 25 thousand monthly visits. Its focus areas include Horizontal E-Commerce and Marketplace.
Company details
Play.com was established in 1998 in Cambridge, United Kingdom, within the online retail sector. Initial operations centered on distributing entertainment products. Expansion into additional categories was pursued subsequently. Acquisition by Rakuten took place in 2011, after which a transition to a marketplace model was implemented in 2013, accompanied by rebranding to rakuten.co.uk. The platform now facilitates transactions across various goods in the UK market.
- Headquarters Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Founders Richard Goulding, Peter de Bourcier, Simon Perree
- Stage Acquired
- SectorsRetail
- Website rakuten.co.uk
- Social LinkedIn X
- Acquired by Rakuten (Sep 2011)
Investors in Play.com
Play.com has secured backing from 1 investor, including institutional investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Rakuten.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cashback is provided on multi-category products through an app-based platform. | 1997 | rakuten.com | San Francisco, United States |
Investor details for Play.com
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- Complete investor list
- Round participation
- Investor portfolios
- Co-investor network
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People of Play.com
3 people are tracked at Play.com (3 in leadership).
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Richard Goulding | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Peter de Bourcier | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Simon Perree | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Complete people profiles for Play.com
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
- Full employee list
- Team structure
- Board tenure
- Professional contacts
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Timeline of Play.com
2 dated milestones of Play.com across 13 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Play.com is founded.
- Exit Acquired by Rakuten.
Web traffic of Play.com
The website of Play.com (play.com) receives about 24.6K visits a month.
- Monthly visits24.6K
▼ 14.6% vs previous month
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Play.com. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| zavvi.com | 100% | 1.4M | #39,086 | View details | |
dvd.co.uk | dvd.co.uk | 98% | – | ||
| whsmith.co.uk | 95% | 80.8K | #489,296 | View details | |
base.com | base.com | 90% | #81,264 | – | |
wowhd.co.uk | wowhd.co.uk | 85% | #367,965 | – | |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 19 similar websites and full traffic analytics for Play.com
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- 19 similar websites
- Audience overlap
- Engagement analytics
- Traffic by brand
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Play.com
Play.com was founded in 1998.
Play.com is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is registered at Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.
Play.com was established in 1998 in Cambridge, United Kingdom, within the online retail sector. Initial operations centered on distributing entertainment products. Expansion into additional categories was pursued subsequently. Acquisition by Rakuten took place in 2011, after which a transition to a marketplace model was implemented in 2013, accompanied by rebranding to rakuten.co.uk. The platform now facilitates transactions across various goods in the UK market.
Play.com has 1 investor. Key investors include Rakuten.
Yes. Play.com was acquired by Rakuten in September 2011.