Giftbar

What Giftbar does

Giftbar is a privately held, US-only digital gift card marketplace founded in 2011 by Kara Kaplan and Jen Morris, operating as Gift Bar LLC with offices in San Luis Obispo, California. The platform serves as an authorized seller of digital gift cards for a curated network of more than 10,000 high-end boutiques, spas, salons, restaurants, and specialty retailers across hundreds of metropolitan areas in the United States. Its core products are the Universal Gift Card ("Giftbar of Choice"), accepted across the entire merchant network, and the Giftbar Mixer, which combines multiple merchants onto a single card, both of which can be personalized with digital wrappings, photos, and messages and delivered instantly via email, text, or print-at-home.

The technical foundation is a self-serve e-commerce marketplace with browser-based discovery by category, city, and neighborhood, an account-bound Giftbar Wallet for balance management, and a concierge product called Giftbartender. On the merchant side, Giftbar provides a digital gift card infrastructure that independent local businesses typically lack, along with promotional placement inside the marketplace.

The business model combines a $99-per-month subscription fee from merchants to participate in the network, an 18% transaction fee charged only when a gift card is redeemed (aligning the company's revenue with new-customer delivery to the merchant), and a margin on gift card sales to consumers at preset amounts of $25, $75, $100, and $250 or custom amounts. Go-to-market mixes product-led discovery on the consumer side with field sales and chamber-of-commerce / industry-association referral partnerships on the merchant side. Gift Bar LLC has raised disclosed funding including a $1M round in 2012 and a $4.4M round from RELENTLESS Venture Studio in 2017, has no mobile app, and has not disclosed revenue.

Name

Giftbar

Legal name

Gift Bar LLC

Website

https://giftbar.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Giftbar is a US digital gift card marketplace that connects consumers with a curated network of 10,000-plus independent boutiques, restaurants, spas, and salons, monetizing through merchant subscriptions, an 18% redemption fee, and gift-card sales margins.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Gift Card Marketplace

NAICS

Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Retailers (45942)

SIC

Retail-Catalog & Mail-Order Houses (5961)

akta.pro primary industry

Gift Sourcing & Procurement (Local & Online) (HSACANAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Digital Goods & Gift Card Generalist Marketplaces (CRAFAAAJ), Multi-Merchant / Shopping Mall Gift Cards (FSAMANAC), Corporate & Client Gifting Programs (HSACANAE)

Keywords

• Digital gift cards
• Local merchant marketplace
• Gift card platform
• Small business marketing
• Online gift certificates

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Merchant Subscription: Merchants pay $99/month subscription fee to join the Giftbar network and accept Universal Gift Cards. This is the primary recurring revenue stream from the business side.
2. Transaction Fee on Gift Card Redemption: Giftbar takes an 18% marketing fee when a gift card is redeemed at a merchant location. This aligns incentives—Giftbar only earns when they bring new customers to merchants.
3. Gift Card Sales Margin: Revenue generated from the markup or margin on gift card face value purchases made through the platform. Customers purchase digital gift cards at face value plus any applicable fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Giftbar operates an online marketplace where consumers can browse, purchase, and send digital gift cards from over 10,000 local boutiques, restaurants, spas, salons, and specialty retailers across the United States. The platform offers instant digital delivery via email, text, or print-at-home, with customizable digital wrappings, photo uploads, and personalized messages. A Universal Gift Card is accepted at thousands of participating merchants, allowing recipients to choose their preferred local business.

Product overview

Giftbar is a digital gift card marketplace that serves as an authorized seller of gift cards for over 10,000 local boutiques, services, spas, and restaurants. The platform's core products include the Universal Gift Card (Giftbar of Choice), which is accepted at all Giftbar merchants and allows recipients to choose their preferred local business, and Giftbar Mixer, a unique gift card combining multiple merchants. The platform also offers the Giftbartender concierge service to help users select gifts. Gift cards can be personalized with photos and digital wrappings, and delivered via email, text, or print-at-home options. Local businesses can join the Giftbar network as merchants to accept these gift cards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• GiftBar of Choice: Universal gift card accepted at all Giftbar merchants, allowing recipients to choose their preferred local business
• Giftbar Mixers
• Giftbartender
• Giftbar Wallet

Products and services

• Universal Gift Card (Giftbar of Choice) A universal digital gift card accepted at all Giftbar merchants nationwide, giving recipients the freedom to choose their preferred local boutique, restaurant, spa, or specialty retailer for redemption.
• Giftbar Mixer A unique multi-merchant gift card that combines several Giftbar merchants, allowing recipients to use the card at any of the listed merchants up to specified values.
• Giftbartender Concierge Service A concierge service that helps customers select the perfect gift card for recipients, offering personalized gift recommendations from Giftbar's curated merchant network.
• Merchant Network Membership A subscription-based membership for local small businesses to join Giftbar's curated marketplace, accept Universal Gift Cards, and gain access to new customers. Priced at $99/month with an 18% marketing fee on redeemed gift cards.

Quantifiable outcome

• Merchants receive payment weekly for gift cards redeemed in store
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• The Restaurant HeroescoreGTM or Marketing PartnerGiftbar announced a partnership with The Restaurant Heroes, an organization dedicated to empowering individuals with restaurant knowledge to establish their own consultancy firms. The partnership features GiftBar as a valuable partner showcasing the unique benefits of universal gift cards to the restaurant industry. This is described as a partnership that is revolutionizing the restaurant consultancy sector.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Givex: Enterprise gift card, loyalty, and stored-value platform serving multi-unit restaurant and retail chains. Competes with Giftbar on the merchant technology side, especially for SMB and mid-market merchants seeking digital gift card infrastructure.
• Blackhawk Network: Leading global branded payments company that distributes gift cards and stored-value products through a vast retail and digital network. Competes with Giftbar on multi-merchant and mall gift card products (Giftbar Mixers / Universal Gift Card), but operates at a much larger scale and across many verticals.
• Square Gift Cards: Square's built-in digital gift card product for SMB merchants integrated into its POS and payments platform. A direct threat to Giftbar's merchant acquisition funnel, since Square offers gift card functionality as part of a broader payments stack at lower incremental cost.
• OpenTable Gift Cards: Major restaurant reservation platform that also sells digital gift cards accepted at thousands of restaurants. Direct overlap with Giftbar's restaurant vertical and Universal Gift Card concept, though limited to dining.

Direct peers

• Tango Card: Digital rewards and gift card platform used by businesses for employee, client, and consumer incentive programs. Directly comparable to Giftbar in digital gift card delivery and multi-merchant options, though primarily focused on B2B rewards use cases.
• eGifter: Online marketplace for digital gift cards from national and local merchants, with personalization features and group gifting functionality. Closely comparable to Giftbar in product offering and target audience of digital-first gifting consumers.
• GiftCards.com: Large online gift card marketplace offering both physical and digital gift cards from a broad set of national and local merchants. Directly competes with Giftbar in the digital gift card aggregation and resale space, but with a much larger scale and broader merchant coverage.
• GiftYa: Digital gift card platform that allows customers to send gift cards linked to specific merchant credit/debit cards, bypassing traditional gift card processing. Closely comparable to Giftbar in targeting local merchants and the digital gifting experience.

Regional players

• Toast Gift Cards: Restaurant-focused POS platform with native digital gift card functionality. Overlaps with Giftbar's restaurant vertical, particularly for the 'food and drink' category that represents a significant share of Giftbar's merchant base.

Emerging players

• RallyUp: Online fundraising platform that supports gift card and merchant-based giving experiences. Adjacent to Giftbar's marketplace model, particularly in group gifting and merchant-based rewards use cases.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/GiftBarChicago
• Facebookfacebook.com/GiftBar
• Instagraminstagram.com/giftbarpicks
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/giftbar

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Giftbar