Online gift card store QwikCilver raises $10M from Amazon, Helion & Accel

QwikCilver Solutions Private Ltd., which owns and operates Bangalore-based gift card provider, has raised $10 million (Rs 63 crore) in a funding round led by US-based e-commerce giant Amazon.

The firm's existing investors Helion Venture Partners and Accel Partners also participated in the round.

The money will be used in scaling up its core business and enhancing the network across the region, Kumar Sudarsan, co-founder and director of QwikCilver, said in a statement.

Amazon's spokesperson said: "Amazon Asia Pacific Pvt Ltd has taken a minority stake in QwikCilver Solutions, a private limited company providing end-to-end stored-value-card solutions to retail and corporate customers in India."

"We believe the company is well poised to provide its customers, solutions that will help them take advantage of the fast growing customer base in the country," he added without giving any further details.

The report of the investment was first published by The Times of India.

The startup was founded in 2008 by the duo of Pratap and Kumar Sudarshan. It provides gift card solutions for retailers and corporate customers. The firm had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Helion and Accel in 2008.

Its flagship product Giftbig is a B2C e-commerce platform that enables consumers and corporate to purchase gift cards and vouchers of various brands. The company claims to be currently serving millions of customers and corporate employees in India.

QwikCilver also provides a B2B backend technology to all the transactions that happen for plastic gift cards, loyalty cards, code programmes and social media gifting of various brands. The firm claims that 90 per cent of organised retailers who have launched gift cards are its clients.

Its current employee strength is over 150 and it says it is on a 50 million transactions annual run rate.