Route Acquires Frate Returns - Revolutionizing the Post-Purchase Experience for Ecommerce Brands

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LEHI, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Route, the post-purchase platform trusted by the world's leading ecommerce brands, today announced the acquisition of Frate Returns, a returns and exchanges platform designed for modern ecommerce brands. This strategic acquisition gives Route’s customers a comprehensive solution that combines Route’s market-leading package protection and tracking suite with Frate’s intelligent exchange-first returns technology.

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Acquisition of the leading returns platform enables Route to deliver a unified solution for tracking, protection, and returns—saving merchants millions in lost profit.

"Acquiring Frate Returns builds on Route’s position at the center of the post-purchase experience to create shopper confidence that fuels merchant growth," said Eric Kobe, CEO of Route. "The Frate team has built an exceptional product that turns a traditionally complex process into a seamless experience for shoppers and a growth engine for brands. By integrating their technology with Route’s industry-leading package protection and visual order tracking, we are not just expanding our capabilities, we are redefining the standard for how merchants engage with and retain shoppers long after the sale."

By integrating Frate’s AI-driven returns and exchanges software, Route now offers merchants a single, vertically integrated platform to manage the entire customer journey after checkout. Frate’s capabilities, including exchange-first optimization, AI image verification, and flexible shipping, refund, and payment options, allows brands like Caraway Home, Honeylove, and Monos to drastically reduce refund rates and operational costs while retaining revenue and increasing loyalty.

"Merchants today are looking to consolidate their tech stacks to reduce costs without sacrificing the customer experience," said Bailey Newton, Co-Founder and CEO of Frate Returns. "There is a critical market need to optimize the entire post-purchase journey, not just fragmented parts of it, and joining forces with Route allows us to amplify our impact by solving those challenges in one unified platform. I’m incredibly excited to combine our returns and exchanges capabilities with Route to drive massive value for merchants and shoppers.”

Founded by Evan Walker and Mike Moreno in 2019, Route quickly became one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world by innovating on the post-purchase experience and creating the shipping protection category.

Founder and Executive Chairman Evan Walker expressed enthusiasm about the acquisition and momentum of the company: “We founded Route to reimagine what’s possible in ecommerce. Bringing Frate’s technology into our family is a powerful catalyst forward in that evolution. As we continue to innovate for our customers and see our enterprise adoption accelerate faster than ever, I couldn’t be more excited for Route to reach new heights with this strategic addition.”

About Route

Route is the leading post-purchase platform for modern ecommerce, trusted by over 13,000 brands and protecting over $20 Billion in gross merchandise value to-date. Route helps merchants deliver package protection, industry-leading tracking, cash back, issue resolution, and returns and exchanges – all in one powerful platform. With Route, shoppers get more visibility and peace of mind, and merchants unlock loyalty that lasts beyond checkout.

To learn more, visit www.route.com.

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KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA UTAH

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: TECHNOLOGY OTHER RETAIL OTHER TECHNOLOGY ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SOFTWARE INTERNET RETAIL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ONLINE RETAIL

SOURCE: Route

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PUB: 01/12/2026 10:00 AM/DISC: 01/12/2026 10:00 AM

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