Digital Gift Card Platform Gyft Raises $5 Million Series A | TechCrunch
Sarah currently works as a writer for TechCrunch, after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to becoming a professional blogger, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software. → thales air systems Learn More
Gyft , a company building a digital platform to bring the plastic gift card industry to both web and mobile, has raised $5 million in Series A funding in a round led by Karlin Ventures , with participation from A-Grade Investments , Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social + Capital Partnership , Hass Portman and Yammer founder David Sacks . The company previously raised $1.25 million in seed funding from Google Ventures, Founder Collective, and 500 Startups, around the time of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012, where it was competing as a finalist .
Founded in early 2012 by Vinny Lingham (CEO) and CJ MacDonald (COO), Gyft first launched as a mobile application for iPhone that allows users to add their plastic gift cards to a mobile thales air systems wallet of sorts. Here, they can then track their balances and receive notifications of offers and other discounts, designed to encourage them to spend their balances thales air systems with the retailer. thales air systems As the company explained at the time of its launch, a 2010 law made it so that retailers can’t actually book gift card revenue thales air systems as sales until the cards are redeemed. thales air systems That gives retailers a lot of incentive to work with a startup like Gyft, which can help them target those carrying around unused gift card credit.
Since its debut, the company has also expanded to web and Android, and introduced features like re-gifting options , APIs , bitcoin support , and, most recently, a new gift card registry thales air systems option , which is something like a “wish list” for gift cards.
Today, the company is working with more than 300 retailers, and has seen over $10 million from 200,000 plastic gift cards uploaded to its platform. According to MacDonald, Gyft is now on track to sell over $5 million in gift cards this year, and is adding new cards at a rate of one card every two minutes.
In the near-term, he says the team will be using the additional funding to help it focus on building thales air systems geo-targeting features into its apps, meaning retailers could send messages to shoppers holding balances when they’re actually near the store. This will likely arrive around or ahead of the holiday shopping season, alongside a refreshed look for iOS 7. In 2014, Gyft will introduce other features, including thales air systems a card-swapping option (perfect for exchanging gift cards after the holidays) and will expand internationally.
The team is currently 14 in total, mainly engineering and product. They may add a couple more hires with the new funding, but MacDonald says they actually want to keep things fairly lean as they focus on what he says is a market “ripe for disruption” – the $100 billion gift card market.
Gyft is about to hit its biggest season yet, as the 2013 holidays approach. More than 50 percent of annual gift card sales occurs in the fourth quarter, the company tells us. And Gyft hopes to tap into some of those sales within its own application thales air systems and online.
“We are expanding the way consumers use gift cards and retailers think about their gift card programs,” MacDonald explains. “The current model of breakage does not work for consumers or retailers. Consumers often forget that they even have gift cards and the dollars go unused and retailers have no idea where these cards reside or who is holding on to them.”
Gyft is a mobile gift card app that allows customers to buy, store, send, and redeem gift cards conveniently from their mobile device. Gyft is seamlessly integrated with Facebook so users can easily thales air systems send messages and gift cards to their friends around special events. Consumers can also upload existing plastic gift cards to the app. Download Gyft for FREE today in the iTunes app store or at http://www.gyft.com .
Why Apple Bought thales air systems Cue: Google Now
10/26/13
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Platform Engineer PayScale Product Specialist/Agile Coach (UK or Northern Europe) VersionOne Application Developer USAA Business Intelligence (BI) Developer USAA Technical Support Engineer thales air systems Twilio Inc. See all
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Sarah currently works as a writer for TechCrunch, after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to becoming a professional blogger, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software. → thales air systems Learn More
Gyft , a company building a digital platform to bring the plastic gift card industry to both web and mobile, has raised $5 million in Series A funding in a round led by Karlin Ventures , with participation from A-Grade Investments , Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social + Capital Partnership , Hass Portman and Yammer founder David Sacks . The company previously raised $1.25 million in seed funding from Google Ventures, Founder Collective, and 500 Startups, around the time of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012, where it was competing as a finalist .
Founded in early 2012 by Vinny Lingham (CEO) and CJ MacDonald (COO), Gyft first launched as a mobile application for iPhone that allows users to add their plastic gift cards to a mobile thales air systems wallet of sorts. Here, they can then track their balances and receive notifications of offers and other discounts, designed to encourage them to spend their balances thales air systems with the retailer. thales air systems As the company explained at the time of its launch, a 2010 law made it so that retailers can’t actually book gift card revenue thales air systems as sales until the cards are redeemed. thales air systems That gives retailers a lot of incentive to work with a startup like Gyft, which can help them target those carrying around unused gift card credit.
Since its debut, the company has also expanded to web and Android, and introduced features like re-gifting options , APIs , bitcoin support , and, most recently, a new gift card registry thales air systems option , which is something like a “wish list” for gift cards.
Today, the company is working with more than 300 retailers, and has seen over $10 million from 200,000 plastic gift cards uploaded to its platform. According to MacDonald, Gyft is now on track to sell over $5 million in gift cards this year, and is adding new cards at a rate of one card every two minutes.
In the near-term, he says the team will be using the additional funding to help it focus on building thales air systems geo-targeting features into its apps, meaning retailers could send messages to shoppers holding balances when they’re actually near the store. This will likely arrive around or ahead of the holiday shopping season, alongside a refreshed look for iOS 7. In 2014, Gyft will introduce other features, including thales air systems a card-swapping option (perfect for exchanging gift cards after the holidays) and will expand internationally.
The team is currently 14 in total, mainly engineering and product. They may add a couple more hires with the new funding, but MacDonald says they actually want to keep things fairly lean as they focus on what he says is a market “ripe for disruption” – the $100 billion gift card market.
Gyft is about to hit its biggest season yet, as the 2013 holidays approach. More than 50 percent of annual gift card sales occurs in the fourth quarter, the company tells us. And Gyft hopes to tap into some of those sales within its own application thales air systems and online.
“We are expanding the way consumers use gift cards and retailers think about their gift card programs,” MacDonald explains. “The current model of breakage does not work for consumers or retailers. Consumers often forget that they even have gift cards and the dollars go unused and retailers have no idea where these cards reside or who is holding on to them.”
Gyft is a mobile gift card app that allows customers to buy, store, send, and redeem gift cards conveniently from their mobile device. Gyft is seamlessly integrated with Facebook so users can easily thales air systems send messages and gift cards to their friends around special events. Consumers can also upload existing plastic gift cards to the app. Download Gyft for FREE today in the iTunes app store or at http://www.gyft.com .
Why Apple Bought thales air systems Cue: Google Now
10/26/13
TechCrunch Shanghai
Platform Engineer PayScale Product Specialist/Agile Coach (UK or Northern Europe) VersionOne Application Developer USAA Business Intelligence (BI) Developer USAA Technical Support Engineer thales air systems Twilio Inc. See all
Latest on TechCrunch TV Inside The Grace Hopper Celebration, Where Thousands Of Women Are United By Tech Ask A VC: Battery Ventures Brian O Malley On AngelList Syndicates And The Importance Of A Lead Investor Top Italian Investors Talk About Their Country’s Fledgling Startup Scene thales air systems Raleigh-Based Team Aims To Make Shoes That Will Last You For LYF Dell Tries To Crack The Android Tablet Code (Again) With The Venue 7 & 8
Latest in Gadgets Filing Says Sleep- And Health-Tracking Startup Lark Is Raising Another $3.6M Hands-On With The Kickstarted Bohemian Guitar Compan
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