Gift cards provider QwikCilver gets $10 mn from Sistema, Accel and others

QwikCilver Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which owns and operates Bangalore-based gift card provider by the same name, has raised $10 million (Rs 67 crore) led by Sistema Asia Fund. Its existing investors Amazon Asia-Pacific, Accel India and Helion Venture Partners have also participated in the latest round.

Co-founder Pratap TP confirmed the fundraising round and the names of the investors to TechCircle but declined to specify the amount raised.

Pratap said the company will use the funds to grow its gift card category adoption across brand partners, consumers, companies and institutions. It will enhance its software-as-a-service technology product platform, enter newer categories and expand into the Middle East and Southeast Asia, he said.

According to The Economic Times, which first reported the development, QwikCilver plans to use the capital to double the value of the gift cards it sells to Rs 4,000 crore in the current financial year.

QwikCilver was founded in 2008 by Pratap TP 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. It raised $10 million in a round led by US-based e-commerce giant Amazon in 2014.

The company changed into a mobile-first online gifting superstore for consumers when it re-branded its flagship product Giftbig to woohoo.in. Giftbig was a B2C e-commerce platform that enabled consumers and corporate to purchase gift cards and vouchers of various brands.

Woohoo.in provides consumers with gift cards of reputable brands that can be redeemed at online and offline stores. These can also be used to shop on Woohoo mobile app, which was launched in May this year to enable aggregation of payment options and to pay retail outlets through mobile.

The app allows retailers to accept multiple currencies. Similarly, it would allow currency partners like Oxigen wallet and loyalty rewards programme points under Payback to be accepted across thousands of retailers. The company claims to be 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 had claimed in the past that 90% of organised retailers who have launched gift cards are its clients.

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