Rakuten, Inc. Wednesday announced that it has closed a transaction to acquire a 75% stake in Ikeda, a leading provider of e-commerce services to many of Brazil’s largest retailers. The acquisition marks another step toward Rakuten’s objective to extend its unique business model, which is focused on empowering merchants and consumers around the world.

Founded in 1996, Ikeda provides retailers with a SaaS (Software as a Service) ecommerce platform, and shares the same empowerment philosophy as Rakuten. Ikeda’s platform enables customers to help build their desired features and provides advisory services to support their online retail operations. The amount of the current investment was not disclosed.

Ikeda currently provides services to over 100 major retailers in Brazil including such market leaders as Brasoftware (software), Ri Happy (toys), Viedolar (CD/DVD), Cobasi (pet goods), Etna (furniture) and Le Postiche (luggage and bags).

According to Hiroshi Mikitani, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, Ikeda is a strong player with many excellent merchant relationships. Together, the companies will share their expertise, and create a unique and powerful approach for merchants to not only take advantage of the exciting ecommerce market in Brazil, but also to expand their reach worldwide, said Mikitani.

Ricardo Yoiti Ikeda, founder and CEO of Ikeda, noted that Rakuten has deep knowledge and a growing global presence that will allow the company to take advantage of evolving trends in ecommerce and allow it to grow even faster. Through the addition of Rakuten’s BtoBtoC marketplace business model, Ikeda will introduce entirely new ways to help its clients achieve their goals.

With 40% of Latin America’s internet users and the largest economy, Brazil is expected to increase its online sales, boosted by the growth of the middle class and consumer technology purchases. E-commerce in Brazil is forecasted to grow at 18% annually, with total sales expected to reach approximately US$22 billion by 2016, a growth rate of 178% over the US$7.9 billion achieved in 2010, noted a Forrester Research report.

Ikeda is a Sao Paulo based e-commerce specialist with a passion for technology and retail. Ikeda is a pioneer in its segment, having developed Brazil’s first e-commerce model 15 years ago. It was also the first company to implement Web 2.0 concepts into e-commerce.

Rakuten, Inc. is one of the world’s leading Internet service companies, providing a variety of consumer and business-focused services including e-commerce, travel, banking, securities, credit card, e-money, portal & media, online marketing and professional sports.