It is the first major acquisition of Swych Inc, founded by Texas-based Deepak Jain.
The gifting platform Swych Inc, founded by Indian American Deepak Jain, has acquired Gift Cards India, which is headquarters in Mumbai.
Gift Cards India, registered in India as GCI Network Pvt. Ltd, is the first major global buyout of Swych, which was founded in 2015.
Gift Cards India, founded in 2011 by Firoz Khan and Cory York, is one of the pioneers in its domain in India. The company boasts of a robust aggregation and distribution network that has been successful in serving millions of customers in the country.
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Jain, a Delhi University alumnus, is based in Texas.
With the acquisition of Gift Cards India, Swych’s goal is to expand and become a leader in the connected digital network by closing the gap that existed between consumers who live thousands of miles away.
It also foresees a future where the combined strategy will bring borderless digital gifting to businesses, digital wallets, loyalty platforms, financial institutions and others, where the recipient of a gift can “Swych” it to spend it at his or her favorite brand across a global catalog.
“Digital gifting is an increasingly powerful engagement tool for retailers to attract consumers via offers, for consumers to gift their loved one on a special moment, for businesses to reward employees, and as a redemption method for loyalty points and miles. GCI’s track record for all these use cases and innovation in the Indian market has been impressive,” said Jain, who is also the CEO of Swych. “By integrating GCI’s presence and expertise with the powerful Swych platform, we aim to greatly accelerate our mission of becoming a truly global digital gifting powerhouse.”
“The synergy between GCI Network and Swych further supports the mission of bringing borderless gifting services to consumers across multiple markets,” Khan, founder and CEO of GCI, said. “We now provide even greater options, brands and flexibility of delivery to our customer base.”
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Swych currently operates in the United States, India, United Kingdom and Australia. It has expansion plans in Europe, Middle East, Canada, Japan, Colombia and Philippines.
Jain previously built and sold DeviceFidelity, a mobile commerce and security firm focused on enabling NFC and security on mobile devices. In 2014, the company was acquired by Kili, which is now part of Square.
Jain holds dozens of patents in the area of mobile security and financial technology.