Gift Local
Gift Local is an API-first eGift card platform that lets consumers discover and send digital gift cards to local hospitality businesses and provides merchants with subscription modules for online gift card sales, birthday-driven customer acquisition, and promotional gifting campaigns.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Gift Local does
Gift Local is an API-first eGift card platform operated by Giftboard, Inc. (Nevada-incorporated, privately held), enabling consumers to discover and purchase digital gift cards from local hospitality businesses and enabling merchants to sell, redeem, and market gift cards across digital channels. The platform is organized as a core consumer marketplace plus a suite of merchant modules: the Business Gift Card Program (online gift card sales), the Birthday Loyalty Program (automated birthday-driven customer acquisition), the Promo Gift Card Program (promotional gifting for off-peak traffic and retention), and a National Directory for merchant discovery across U.S. markets including Las Vegas, New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Supporting infrastructure includes the partners.giftlocal.com merchant dashboard, a Gift Local Merchant Tools iOS redemption app, and REST APIs (validate-gift, redeem-gift, gift creation/delivery) with QA and production environments for POS and ecommerce integrators.
The technology stack centers on standard REST APIs with API-key authentication, supporting both monetary and item-based stored value vouchers. Distribution is multi-channel: merchants can sell gift cards through their own websites, Facebook pages (via post and menu widgets), Instagram (via Linktr.ee), and Yelp (premium call-to-action buttons), in addition to the Gift Local directory. The company integrates with POS systems for on-premise redemption and uses Authorize.Net for credit card processing; the company itself does not store card numbers, with that data held by its processing partner. Privacy policy governs collection of consumer PII (name, email, cell, birthday for birthday program participants) plus usage logs and cookies.
Gift Local's revenue model is subscription-based with low-ARPU pricing: $300/year per location for the Business Gift Card Program (waived until $3,000 in sales), $250/year to $250/month tiered by merchant revenue size for the Birthday Loyalty Program, $29/month or $199/year for the Promo Gift Card Program, and $99/year for Directory listing (free for Business Gift Card subscribers). Merchants receive 95% of gift card value, are paid on purchase (not redemption), keep breakage, and are protected from chargebacks; Gift Local absorbs credit card processing fees. Customer segments are individual consumers (gift senders and birthday program registrants) and local hospitality merchants — restaurants, bars, hotels, entertainment venues, golf courses, spas, salons, gyms — with POS/ecommerce integrators as a secondary channel.
Gift Local firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Gift Local
- Legal name
- Giftboard, Inc.
- Website
- https://giftlocal.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Gift Local is an API-first eGift card platform that lets consumers discover and send digital gift cards to local hospitality businesses and provides merchants with subscription modules for online gift card sales, birthday-driven customer acquisition, and promotional gifting campaigns.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Gift Local industry classification
Industry- Product category
- eGift Card Platform
- NAICS
- Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Retailers (45942), Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Retailers (459420)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Closed-Loop Gift Cards (Single-Merchant) (FSAMANAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Scheduled/Subscription Gifting (Reminders & Recurring Sends) (HSACANAJ), Corporate & Client Gifting Programs (HSACANAE), Gift Sourcing & Procurement (Local & Online) (HSACANAB), Digital Goods & Gift Card Generalist Marketplaces (CRAFAAAJ)
Keywords
Where Gift Local is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Gift Local business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Business Gift Card Subscription: Annual subscription fee for merchants to sell eGift cards from their own website, social media, and the Gift Local directory. Merchants receive 95% of gift card value, get paid on purchase (not redemption), and keep breakage. $300/year per location, waived until merchant sells $3000 in gift cards.
- Birthday Loyalty Program Subscription: Annual/quarterly/monthly subscription based on merchant size tier. Small locations (under $1M/year): $250/year. Medium ($1M+): $250/quarter. Large ($5M+): $250/month. Drives new customer acquisition through birthday gift offers.
- Promotional Gift Card Marketing: Monthly subscription for promotional gifting campaigns. $29/month or $199/year per participating location. Enables merchants to send unlimited promo gift cards for customer acquisition and retention without upfront cost.
- National Directory Listing: Free for Gift Local Business Gift Card subscribers. $99/year for merchants using other gift card providers. Provides visibility to millions of consumers searching for local businesses with monthly reporting on clicks, sales, and ROI.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | National Directory - Free for Gift Local merchants, $99/year for others |
| Subscription | Annual | Business Gift Card - $300/year per location (waived until $3000 in sales) |
| Subscription | Annual | Birthday Loyalty Program - $250/year for small, $250/qtr for medium, $250/mo for large |
| Subscription | Monthly | Promo Gift Card Program - $29/month or $199/year |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels7 records
Gift Local product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Gift Local operates an API-first eGift card platform that lets consumers discover, purchase, and send digital gift cards to local businesses across dining, hospitality, retail, and entertainment. For merchants, it provides a national discovery directory, a business gift card sales program, a birthday-driven customer acquisition program, and a promotional gifting program, along with a merchant dashboard, a mobile redemption app, and REST APIs for POS and ecommerce integration.
Product overview
Gift Local is a digital gift card platform operating on a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core platform (Gift Local Consumer Platform) enables consumers to discover and purchase eGift cards from local businesses. For merchants, the platform offers multiple integrated modules: the Business Gift Card Program for direct online sales, the Birthday Loyalty Program for customer acquisition, the Promo Gift Card Program for retention campaigns, and the National Directory for merchant discovery. Supporting infrastructure includes the Merchant Portal (partner dashboard), Merchant Redemption App (mobile), and REST APIs for redemption and creation workflows. The platform is owned by Giftboard, Inc.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Gift Local Consumer Platform Consumer-facing eGift card marketplace allowing users to discover, purchase, and send digital gift cards to local businesses across dining, hospitality, retail, and entertainment categories.
- Business Gift Card Program Program allowing merchants to sell their own eGift cards from their website, social media pages, and the Gift Local national directory, driving online revenue and new customers. Merchants receive 95% of gift card value.
- Birthday Loyalty Program Customer acquisition program where businesses offer gift cards to consumers on their birthdays, driving new high-margin customers during birthday celebrations. Tiered by merchant size from $250/year to $250/month.
- Promo Gift Card Program Marketing program enabling businesses to send promotional gift cards (specific item, day, or time) to drive off-peak hour business and repeat visits, with unlimited campaigns per location.
- National Directory Merchant discovery directory allowing consumers to find local businesses by location, business type, and ownership type across North America. Free for Gift Local subscribers, $99/year otherwise.
- Gift Local Merchant Portal Partner dashboard for merchants to manage gift card sales, campaigns, reports, and account settings across single or multi-location businesses with free registration.
- Gift Local Merchant App (Redemption App) Mobile application available on iOS (Gift Local Merchant Tools) enabling staff to validate and redeem gift cards at physical business locations via QR code or manual code entry.
- Birthday Celebration Program (Consumer) Consumer-facing program offering free birthday gift cards from participating local businesses, with registration at giftlocal.com/birthday.
- Gift Redemption API REST APIs (validate-gift and redeem-gift) enabling POS and ecommerce systems to integrate Gift Local voucher redemption directly into their interfaces, with QA and production environments.
- Gift Creation & Delivery API REST API enabling third-party systems to automate gift creation and delivery, including promotional gift campaigns with email, SMS, and printed delivery options.
Quantifiable outcome
- Merchants can earn online revenue 24/7 with no labor or risk
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Gift Local
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Gift Local technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
Feature5 records
Gift Local partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Gift Local competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- eGifter: eGifter offers a digital gift card marketplace and rewards platform with merchant-issuance and promotional gifting tools. It competes most directly with Gift Local on consumer gift card discovery and B2C promotional delivery via its own storefront and integrations.
- Toast Gift Cards: Toast is a leading restaurant POS and payments platform with native gift card issuance, redemption, and online sales capabilities. It targets the same hospitality merchants that Gift Local courts, with deeper restaurant-specific feature depth but a heavier onboarding footprint.
- Square Gift Cards (Block): Block's Square offers closed-loop eGift cards for SMBs tightly integrated with its POS and payments stack. Square targets the same restaurant and retail merchants with bundled payments plus gift card functionality, making it Gift Local's broadest direct competitor despite Square's much larger scope.
- TouchBistro: TouchBistro is a restaurant-focused POS platform with eGift card issuance, online ordering, and customer engagement features. It directly competes with Gift Local for the same hospitality SMB segment with restaurant-specific feature depth.
- Givex: Givex is a gift card, loyalty, and stored value platform serving restaurants, retail, and hospitality chains globally. It offers similar closed-loop gift card issuance, POS-integrated redemption, and online storefront functionality to Gift Local.
Emerging players
- Tremendous (Giftbit): Tremendous operates a digital gift card distribution platform with broad merchant coverage and API-driven delivery, increasingly targeting business-to-consumer promotional gifting. It overlaps with Gift Local's B2C promo gift card use case but skews more toward digital rewards fulfillment at scale.
- Yelp Gift Cards: Yelp offers a gift card call-to-action widget on Premium business pages that integrates with Gift Local (and similar providers). Yelp's massive consumer traffic and merchant reach represent a strategic channel and partial competitive overlap for gift card discovery at local businesses.
Broad incumbents
- Blackhawk Network: Blackhawk Network is a large gift card marketplace and financial technology provider connecting consumers, employers, and merchants through branded gift cards. As a broad incumbent with much greater scale, it represents the mature competitive ceiling for Gift Local's directory/marketplace ambitions.
- Clover (Fiserv): Clover, owned by Fiserv, is a SMB POS platform with built-in gift card and loyalty modules. It targets many of the same hospitality and retail merchants as Gift Local, leveraging Fiserv's payment rails and broad merchant services portfolio for distribution leverage.
Others
- OpenTable: OpenTable is a restaurant reservation platform that also offers digital gift card purchasing for restaurants. It overlaps with Gift Local on consumer-facing gifting to restaurants but leverages a different primary use case (reservations) for its consumer traffic.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Gift Local social profiles
Digital presenceGift Local financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Gift Local leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Gift Local funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Gift Local M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Gift Local
What does Gift Local do?
Gift Local operates an API-first eGift card platform that lets consumers discover, purchase, and send digital gift cards to local businesses across dining, hospitality, retail, and entertainment. For merchants, it provides a national discovery directory, a business gift card sales program, a birthday-driven customer acquisition program, and a promotional gifting program, along with a merchant dashboard, a mobile redemption app, and REST APIs for POS and ecommerce integration.
Is Gift Local a public or private company?
Gift Local is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Gift Local founded?
Gift Local was founded in 2013. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Gift Local based?
Gift Local is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does Gift Local make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Business Gift Card Subscription is the primary driver. The others are birthday Loyalty Program Subscription, promotional Gift Card Marketing and national Directory Listing.
Who are Gift Local's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are eGifter, Toast Gift Cards, Square Gift Cards (Block), TouchBistro and Givex. Emerging players are Tremendous (Giftbit) and Yelp Gift Cards. Broad incumbents are Blackhawk Network and Clover (Fiserv). OpenTable is listed as an others.
Does Gift Local have an API?
Yes. Gift Local provides REST APIs for integration partners to support gift card creation and redemption workflows. The APIs include: (1) Gift Redemption APIs for POS/Ecommerce system providers to offer Gift Local voucher redemption directly in their interface (validate-gift and redeem-gift endpoints); (2) Gift Creation & Delivery APIs for automating promotional gift delivery or external consumer storefronts leveraging Gift Local for fulfillment and tracking; (3) Merchant Inventory Retrieval for retrieving public merchant information. Authentication uses API Keys passed as HTTP headers. Two environments are available: QA (https://qa-api.giftlocal.com) and Production (https://api.giftlocal.com). Developer documentation is at developers.giftlocal.com.
What industry is Gift Local in?
Gift Local's product category is eGift Card Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAMANAB, Closed-Loop Gift Cards (Single-Merchant), with a secondary code of HSACANAJ, Scheduled/Subscription Gifting (Reminders & Recurring Sends). Its NAICS code is 45942.