PITTSBURGH, May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — GiftCards.com™, the leading website for gift cards, today agreed to acquire Giftly, the leading mobile gifting app, to build a digital and mobile commerce platform in the $110 billion gift card industry.

Founded in 1999, GiftCards.com commands strong positions in both the plastic and digital gift card spaces. With long-standing bank relationships and as a certified issuer of all three major payment networks, the company prints on-demand custom gift-cards in its own facility. As the number one gift cards website in traffic and leading organic searches on all things gift cards, it offers the widest range of products: personalized, pre-designed, virtual, local, group, and discount gift cards. It has 3 industry-related patents issued and another 38 pending for game-changing business concepts.

Giftly, a two-year old startup based in San Francisco, enables consumers to buy and deliver digital gifts via its website and free app. Giftly has pioneered a new platform for gift cards which sends gift credits to recipients when they redeem a gift, rather than issuing plastic cards, and requires no point of sale integration.

“Digital and mobile gifting is the future of the industry and we have invested heavily in patenting technologies in this space” stated, Jason Wolfe, CEO of GiftCards.com. “The Giftly acquisition is a logical and exciting step into building the industry’s future with an established partner in the fast-growing m-commerce space.” CEB estimates that 85% of US consumers exchanged gift cards in 2012 and projects electronic gifting will grow to $15 billion by 2015.

Giftly will be rolled into the GiftCards.com operation but will maintain its offices in San Francisco. “This is an exciting opportunity for Giftly,” commented CEO Timothy Bentley, “by partnering with GiftCards.com, we can combine the strengths of a traditional gift card player with the innovative platform that Giftly has developed.”

GiftCards.com is talking to a number of venture firms and strategic investors to raise its first round of funding to accelerate the combined companies’ growth.

About GiftCards.com

GiftCards.com, is the online leader in gift cards, has been selling gift cards online for over 10 years. GiftCards.com is the most trafficked gift card website, and has sold over 5 million gift cards to consumers and corporations. GiftCards.com has been a leader in gift card innovation and has over 38 patents filed with 3 issued patents, some patents currently licensed in the gift card industry.

About Giftly

Giftly is pioneering the future of the gift card industry by re-inventing gift cards to incorporate social and mobile technologies. Giftly turns each gift given into an interactive experience. Giftly makes it possible to give a gift card for an item or experience at any merchant nationwide.

SOURCE GiftCards.com