By Jane Lanhee Lee
(Reuters) – Extend, a San Francisco tech startup that makes it easier for businesses to offer product warranties, said on Tuesday it raised $260 million in a funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund 2 that valued the company at over $1 billion.
Extend allows companies to add a button to their online markets that gives customers the option to pay extra to protect their purchases, said Woodrow Levin, CEO and Co-founder of Extend.
If there is a problem with the product, Extend will handle the claim, in most cases through a customer service chatbot, said Levin.
Extend is among a growing number of tech startups, from logistics to payments to marketing, aimed at helping smaller companies build up their e-commerce business. Many have raised large amounts of funding in the past year.
“Merchants are trying to figure out how can they create a more level playing field against the Walmarts, against the Amazons, against these huge marketplaces. And they’re shipping extended warranties, buy-now-pay-later. All of these tools are what they need in order to be able to…
