GiftCards.com Bolsters Mobile Offerings with Giftly Acquisition (May 23, 2013)
May 23, 2013
GiftCards.com, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based Wolfe LLC, is deepening its digital offerings with the acquisition this week of Giftly, a mobile app-based digital gift card service. Giftly, a San Francisco-based startup launched in 2011, enables consumers to purchase digital gift cards that may be designated for specific purchases at any U.S. merchant that accepts credit or debit cards, delivered via a smartphone to recipients via Giftly’s Website and mobile app. Senders select the gift, specify an amount and personalize it with a message. Recipients must create a Giftly account, downloadable through Apple Inc.’s App Store, and link it to a credit, debit, prepaid or PayPal account to receive the gift. After the recipient completes the purchase, the gift card amount is credited to the recipient’s linked account. Fees for senders are about 5 percent of the face value of the gift card. Fuze Network helped develop Giftly’s technology. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Adding Giftly to its operations is part of GiftCards.com’s plan to build a broad digital and mobile commerce gift card platform, the company said. “Digital and mobile gifting is the future of the industry and we have invested heavily in patenting technologies in this space,” said Jason Wolfe, Giftcards.com’s CEO. Giftcards.com in January announced its spinoff company GiftYa LLC, which operates a mobile and digital gift platform, received $1 million to patent its gift card system. Wolfe LLC in January 2011 acquired Echelon Media LLC, a Fargo, N.D.-based social rewards platform provider.
