US-based mobile gifting platform Swych, Inc., which claims to be the world's first global gifting network, on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Mumbai, India-based Gift Cards India (GCI Network Pvt. Ltd). Swych, the maker of the revolutionary Swych™ digital gifting platform, was founded in 2015 by Deepak Jain, who's a Delhi University almumnus and now an Indian-American based out of Texas, US .
Founded in 2011 by Firoz Khan and Cory York, Gift Cards India (GCI) has successfully operated a robust aggregation and distribution network for gift cards and has been serving millions of consumers, enterprises, loyalty platforms and wallet operators in the Indian market. GCI has become well known in the market for providing consumers and businesses with a reliable, efficient and high-quality source of the widest selection of gift products from over 250 of the top brands in India.
With this acquisition, Swych is extending its leadership position as the only connected digital global network making gifting truly borderless between consumers who might be thousands of miles apart. The unique power of the Swych digital gifting technology combined with GCI's South Asia expertise and established partnerships will also bring borderless digital gifting to businesses, digital wallets, loyalty platforms, financial institutions and others wherein the recipient of a gift can "Swych" it to spend it at their favorite brand across a global catalog.
"Digital gifting is an increasingly powerful engagement tool for retailers to attract consumers via offers, for consumers to gift their loved one on a special moment, for businesses to reward employees, and as a redemption method for loyalty points and miles. GCI's track record for all these use cases and innovation in the Indian market has been impressive," said Deepak Jain, Swych founder and CEO. "By integrating GCI's presence and expertise with the powerful Swych platform, we aim to greatly accelerate our mission of becoming a truly global digital gifting powerhouse."
According to Firoz Khan, GCI Network's founder and CEO, "The synergy between GCI Network and Swych further supports the mission of bringing borderless gifting services to consumers across multiple markets. We now provide even greater options, brands and flexibility of delivery to our customer base."
Swych continues to add innovative services and features to delight customers and remains committed to continued innovative offerings via an ever expanding global coverage and technology advancements in fraud management, artificial intelligence, bots and data analytics that make the Swych network the most powerful global gifting and shopping network on the planet. This network now features retailers in the United States, India, United Kingdom and Australia, with planned expansion to include popular retailers in Europe, Middle East, Canada, Japan, Colombia and Philippines.
Swych is showcasing its instant digital cross border gifting service between US and India this week at the Finovate Spring 2018 conference in Santa Clara, California.
Speaking about Swych founder, Deepak Jain, he is a serial entrepreneur who has had successfully launched, built and sold DeviceFidelity, a mobile commerce & security firm focused towards enablement of NFC and security on mobile devices. DeviceFidelity was acquired by Kili in Nov 2014. Kili was then acquired by Square in March 2015.
Deepak is also a holder of 100+ patents in the area of mobile security and financial technology,
The gifting market in India was pegged at $30 billion of which $400 million could be attributed to the digital space.
According to Technopak, one of India’s leading management consultants, the total size of Indian corporate and personal gifting market put together in 2017 is about Rs.250,000 crore. Of this, corporate gifting market in India is estimated to be Rs.12, 000 crore and is growing at over 200% per annum.
Last June, Gurgaon-based Storecheq Innovation Pvt. Ltd. launched India’s first Gift-Tech platform called Storecheq.com, offering as a digital currency of gifting for the mobile enabled Indian and offers an easy system of gifting.
In 2016, CheersOye!, a social gifting platform founded by Ex-Yahoo Analytics Lead, Bhavna Lalchandani and ex-Zee Digital Marketing Expert Rahul Shrivastava, had raised an undisclosed amount from HNI investors.
In the same year, Croatian gifting startup Bouxtie also announced its plan to enter Indian market but then nothing substantial took off.
[Top Image - blog.LoopCommerce.com]
Founded in 2011 by Firoz Khan and Cory York, Gift Cards India (GCI) has successfully operated a robust aggregation and distribution network for gift cards and has been serving millions of consumers, enterprises, loyalty platforms and wallet operators in the Indian market. GCI has become well known in the market for providing consumers and businesses with a reliable, efficient and high-quality source of the widest selection of gift products from over 250 of the top brands in India.
With this acquisition, Swych is extending its leadership position as the only connected digital global network making gifting truly borderless between consumers who might be thousands of miles apart. The unique power of the Swych digital gifting technology combined with GCI's South Asia expertise and established partnerships will also bring borderless digital gifting to businesses, digital wallets, loyalty platforms, financial institutions and others wherein the recipient of a gift can "Swych" it to spend it at their favorite brand across a global catalog.
"Digital gifting is an increasingly powerful engagement tool for retailers to attract consumers via offers, for consumers to gift their loved one on a special moment, for businesses to reward employees, and as a redemption method for loyalty points and miles. GCI's track record for all these use cases and innovation in the Indian market has been impressive," said Deepak Jain, Swych founder and CEO. "By integrating GCI's presence and expertise with the powerful Swych platform, we aim to greatly accelerate our mission of becoming a truly global digital gifting powerhouse."
According to Firoz Khan, GCI Network's founder and CEO, "The synergy between GCI Network and Swych further supports the mission of bringing borderless gifting services to consumers across multiple markets. We now provide even greater options, brands and flexibility of delivery to our customer base."
Swych continues to add innovative services and features to delight customers and remains committed to continued innovative offerings via an ever expanding global coverage and technology advancements in fraud management, artificial intelligence, bots and data analytics that make the Swych network the most powerful global gifting and shopping network on the planet. This network now features retailers in the United States, India, United Kingdom and Australia, with planned expansion to include popular retailers in Europe, Middle East, Canada, Japan, Colombia and Philippines.
Swych is showcasing its instant digital cross border gifting service between US and India this week at the Finovate Spring 2018 conference in Santa Clara, California.
Speaking about Swych founder, Deepak Jain, he is a serial entrepreneur who has had successfully launched, built and sold DeviceFidelity, a mobile commerce & security firm focused towards enablement of NFC and security on mobile devices. DeviceFidelity was acquired by Kili in Nov 2014. Kili was then acquired by Square in March 2015.
Deepak is also a holder of 100+ patents in the area of mobile security and financial technology,
Gifting Market in India
The gifting market in India was pegged at $30 billion of which $400 million could be attributed to the digital space.
According to Technopak, one of India’s leading management consultants, the total size of Indian corporate and personal gifting market put together in 2017 is about Rs.250,000 crore. Of this, corporate gifting market in India is estimated to be Rs.12, 000 crore and is growing at over 200% per annum.
Last June, Gurgaon-based Storecheq Innovation Pvt. Ltd. launched India’s first Gift-Tech platform called Storecheq.com, offering as a digital currency of gifting for the mobile enabled Indian and offers an easy system of gifting.
In 2016, CheersOye!, a social gifting platform founded by Ex-Yahoo Analytics Lead, Bhavna Lalchandani and ex-Zee Digital Marketing Expert Rahul Shrivastava, had raised an undisclosed amount from HNI investors.
In the same year, Croatian gifting startup Bouxtie also announced its plan to enter Indian market but then nothing substantial took off.
[Top Image - blog.LoopCommerce.com]
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