AnyMind Group Completes Acquisition of Japanese e-gifting Company, AnyReach

AnyMind Group [TSE:5027], a BPaaS company for marketing, e-commerce and digital transformation, has today announced the completion of its full acquisition of AnyReach, a Japan-based e-gifting company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, AnyMind Japan Inc. AnyReach will continue to operate under its existing name.

This marks AnyMind Group’s 10th acquisition and the fifth M&A of a Japan-based company. Since its founding in 2016, AnyMind Group has expanded its business into 15 markets, with a strategic growth driver being the strengthening of its business foundation through acquisitions.

The flagship offering from AnyReach is AnyGift, an e-gifting platform that allows online merchants to integrate e-gifting functionality into their checkout carts. End users can choose to send physical products or redeemable gifts, without a need to know the recipient’s address. AnyGift is already being used by over 700 companies in Japan. With Japan’s e-commerce market projected to grow to approximately $257 billion by 2027, the e-gifting sector is expected to experience continued expansion.

The integration of AnyReach into AnyMind Group will accelerate business growth in the e-commerce and e-gifting sector, leveraging the following synergies:

• Enhancing e-commerce and e-gifting capabilities: Combining AnyGift with AnyMind’s e-commerce management platform, AnyX, and influencer marketing platform, AnyTag, to create added value for corporate e-commerce strategies and drive further market expansion.
• Accelerating Global Expansion: Leveraging AnyMind’s extensive presence in Southeast Asia to promote the international expansion of e-gifting solutions.
• Enhancing e-commerce and e-gifting capabilities: Combining AnyGift with AnyMind’s e-commerce management platform, AnyX, and influencer marketing platform, AnyTag, to create added value for corporate e-commerce strategies and drive further market expansion.

On the completed acquisition, Konosuke Nakajima, CEO and founder of AnyReach, said: “We founded AnyReach in 2021 with the mission to create a global e-gifting platform. In less than three years, AnyGift has been adopted by over 700 companies, solidifying its position in Japan. By joining forces with AnyMind Group, which operates in 15 countries and regions, we can expand globally and continue innovating beyond digital gifting, incorporating offline experiences as well. Together, we aim to build the world’s No.1 platform in the gift-tech industry.”

Kosuke Sogo, CEO and co-founder of AnyMind Group, said: “With this acquisition, our 10th M&A deal and fifth in Japan, we are accelerating our expansion in the e-commerce space. By combining our technology and expertise in marketing and e-commerce with AnyReach’s e-gift platform, we will provide new value to enterprise e-commerce strategies, support brand growth, and deliver unique purchasing experiences to consumers worldwide.”

Echojoy Launches India's First WhatsApp Based Multi-brand Digital Gift Cards

• Users have access to 150+ top brands in the country both online and offline


• Enters into a new personalized gifting category space

Echojoy, a work-from-home based start-up, announced India's first WhatsApp based multi-brand Digital Gift, built on deep-tech solutions. Its a Gift card with a twist.

Happy Birthday Card

As software permeates every aspect of our lives, Echojoy looks to leverage technology to make Gifting personal, impactful and relevant to our new digital lives. The Echojoy Digital Gift is highly flexible to allow giftee to shop at leading stores like Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa etc. for the products she/he desires. They plan to add more partner brands from other sectors like education, gaming, food and experiences to give a wider choice to consumers. The Gifter derives immense satisfaction that his/her Gift is fun and useful to the Giftee.

Happy Birthday Digital Gift Card

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the company is working with several NGOs to encourage people to support a noble cause through Gifting. Echojoy has tied up with NGOs like Action Aid and Kriti Kala who work for the betterment of women, children and the environment. With the vision of 'Gifting with a Heart' in mind, Echojoy gives the Giftee and Gifter an option to support a cause of their choice using part of the Gift amount, earning Good Karma honors for the Giftee.

The start-up hopes to revolutionize the gifting culture amongst the millennials by being available on-demand and be relevant. As people spend more and more time on WhatsApp and Zoom with friends and family and celebrate special events on them, Gifting option which can enhance these virtual occasions and create memories is needed. Echojoy fits right it and offers a wide variety of Digital Gift + Greeting cards with customized greeting messages for all occasions such as birthdays, weddings, expressions, new beginnings, job anniversaries as well as seasonal and festive gift cards.

"We noticed how there was an increase in people opting to give Gift vouchers over Gift money/Gifts, especially at weddings & other important events of life. We realized that making that whole experience fun, personal can help make happier memories than a mundane gift or cash. Thus we came up with Echojoy Digital Gift. It is available both in beautiful Digital and Physical forms," said Ram Gollamudi, Co-founder, Echojoy.

"Millions of social events happen every day across India in our daily lives and we believe there is an opportunity for Echojoy to be the go-to gifting option. Echojoy Digital Gift is secure and simple to use and we believe it will deliver Joy to both the Gifter and Giftee," Ravikanth, Co-founder, Echojoy.

The process is quite convenient and enjoyable as the customers can order through online or via WhatsApp, share the gift through SMS, Email or WhatsApp after which the recipient can redeem their gift cards through the Echojoy app and enjoy shopping from their favorite brands.

About Echojoy

Echojoy is India's first whats app based multi-brand digital gifting portal that offers customised Gift Cards in both the online and offline space. The Hyderabad-based startup has partnered with over 150 brands such as Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, CaratLane, Myntra, Lifestyle and more to revolutionise the gifting culture among millennials. Based on deep-tech and built for all occasions and festivals, Echojoy Digital Gift Cards have a simple gifting process via online mode and WhatsApp through which the senders can pick a value for the card and send it to the recipient who can redeem the voucher through the app and shop from their favourite brands.

To know more about Echojoy Digital Gift Cards: echojoycards.com or Order one on WhatsApp +91 8886604925 (wa.me/918886604925text=Hello%20EchoJoy)

Indian-American Founded Swych Acquires Mumbai-based Gift Cards India

US-based mobile gifting platform Swych, Inc., which claims to be the world's first global gifting network, on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Mumbai, India-based Gift Cards India (GCI Network Pvt. Ltd). Swych, the maker of the revolutionary Swych™ digital gifting platform, was founded in 2015 by Deepak Jain, who's a Delhi University almumnus and now an Indian-American based out of Texas, US .

Founded in 2011 by Firoz Khan and Cory York, Gift Cards India (GCI) has successfully operated a robust aggregation and distribution network for gift cards and has been serving millions of consumers, enterprises, loyalty platforms and wallet operators in the Indian market. GCI has become well known in the market for providing consumers and businesses with a reliable, efficient and high-quality source of the widest selection of gift products from over 250 of the top brands in India.

With this acquisition, Swych is extending its leadership position as the only connected digital global network making gifting truly borderless between consumers who might be thousands of miles apart. The unique power of the Swych digital gifting technology combined with GCI's South Asia expertise and established partnerships will also bring borderless digital gifting to businesses, digital wallets, loyalty platforms, financial institutions and others wherein the recipient of a gift can "Swych" it to spend it at their 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 Deepak Jain, Swych founder and CEO. "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."

According to Firoz Khan, GCI Network's founder and CEO, "The synergy between GCI Network and Swych further supports the mission of bringing borderless gifting services to consumers across multiple markets. We now provide even greater options, brands and flexibility of delivery to our customer base."

Swych continues to add innovative services and features to delight customers and remains committed to continued innovative offerings via an ever expanding global coverage and technology advancements in fraud management, artificial intelligence, bots and data analytics that make the Swych network the most powerful global gifting and shopping network on the planet. This network now features retailers in the United States, India, United Kingdom and Australia, with planned expansion to include popular retailers in Europe, Middle East, Canada, Japan, Colombia and Philippines.

Swych is showcasing its instant digital cross border gifting service between US and India this week at the Finovate Spring 2018 conference in Santa Clara, California.

Speaking about Swych founder, Deepak Jain, he is a serial entrepreneur who has had successfully launched, built and sold DeviceFidelity, a mobile commerce & security firm focused towards enablement of NFC and security on mobile devices. DeviceFidelity was acquired by Kili in Nov 2014. Kili was then acquired by Square in March 2015.

Deepak is also a holder of 100+ patents in the area of mobile security and financial technology,

Gifting Market in India

The gifting market in India was pegged at $30 billion of which $400 million could be attributed to the digital space.

According to Technopak, one of India’s leading management consultants, the total size of Indian corporate and personal gifting market put together in 2017 is about Rs.250,000 crore. Of this, corporate gifting market in India is estimated to be Rs.12, 000 crore and is growing at over 200% per annum.

Last June, Gurgaon-based Storecheq Innovation Pvt. Ltd. launched India’s first Gift-Tech platform called Storecheq.com, offering as a digital currency of gifting for the mobile enabled Indian and offers an easy system of gifting.

In 2016, CheersOye!, a social gifting platform founded by Ex-Yahoo Analytics Lead, Bhavna Lalchandani and ex-Zee Digital Marketing Expert Rahul Shrivastava, had raised an undisclosed amount from HNI investors.

In the same year, Croatian gifting startup Bouxtie also announced its plan to enter Indian market but then nothing substantial took off.

[Top Image - blog.LoopCommerce.com]

Indian-American Founded Swych Acquires Mumbai-based Gift Cards India

US-based mobile gifting platform Swych, Inc., which claims to be the world's first global gifting network, on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Mumbai, India-based Gift Cards India (GCI Network Pvt. Ltd). Swych, the maker of the revolutionary Swych™ digital gifting platform, was founded in 2015 by Deepak Jain, who's a Delhi University almumnus and now an Indian-American based out of Texas, US .

Founded in 2011 by Firoz Khan and Cory York, Gift Cards India (GCI) has successfully operated a robust aggregation and distribution network for gift cards and has been serving millions of consumers, enterprises, loyalty platforms and wallet operators in the Indian market. GCI has become well known in the market for providing consumers and businesses with a reliable, efficient and high-quality source of the widest selection of gift products from over 250 of the top brands in India.

With this acquisition, Swych is extending its leadership position as the only connected digital global network making gifting truly borderless between consumers who might be thousands of miles apart. The unique power of the Swych digital gifting technology combined with GCI's South Asia expertise and established partnerships will also bring borderless digital gifting to businesses, digital wallets, loyalty platforms, financial institutions and others wherein the recipient of a gift can "Swych" it to spend it at their 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 Deepak Jain, Swych founder and CEO. "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."

According to Firoz Khan, GCI Network's founder and CEO, "The synergy between GCI Network and Swych further supports the mission of bringing borderless gifting services to consumers across multiple markets. We now provide even greater options, brands and flexibility of delivery to our customer base."

Swych continues to add innovative services and features to delight customers and remains committed to continued innovative offerings via an ever expanding global coverage and technology advancements in fraud management, artificial intelligence, bots and data analytics that make the Swych network the most powerful global gifting and shopping network on the planet. This network now features retailers in the United States, India, United Kingdom and Australia, with planned expansion to include popular retailers in Europe, Middle East, Canada, Japan, Colombia and Philippines.

Swych is showcasing its instant digital cross border gifting service between US and India this week at the Finovate Spring 2018 conference in Santa Clara, California.

Speaking about Swych founder, Deepak Jain, he is a serial entrepreneur who has had successfully launched, built and sold DeviceFidelity, a mobile commerce & security firm focused towards enablement of NFC and security on mobile devices. DeviceFidelity was acquired by Kili in Nov 2014. Kili was then acquired by Square in March 2015.

Deepak is also a holder of 100+ patents in the area of mobile security and financial technology,

Gifting Market in India

The gifting market in India was pegged at $30 billion of which $400 million could be attributed to the digital space.

According to Technopak, one of India’s leading management consultants, the total size of Indian corporate and personal gifting market put together in 2017 is about Rs.250,000 crore. Of this, corporate gifting market in India is estimated to be Rs.12, 000 crore and is growing at over 200% per annum.

Last June, Gurgaon-based Storecheq Innovation Pvt. Ltd. launched India’s first Gift-Tech platform called Storecheq.com, offering as a digital currency of gifting for the mobile enabled Indian and offers an easy system of gifting.

In 2016, CheersOye!, a social gifting platform founded by Ex-Yahoo Analytics Lead, Bhavna Lalchandani and ex-Zee Digital Marketing Expert Rahul Shrivastava, had raised an undisclosed amount from HNI investors.

In the same year, Croatian gifting startup Bouxtie also announced its plan to enter Indian market but then nothing substantial took off.

[Top Image - blog.LoopCommerce.com]

Story of Giftxoxo - An online gift discovery and recommendation platform

Gifting is a large opportunity across the world. Almost 5% of the revenue in e-commerce and offline players is contributed through gifting. Giftxoxo is an online gift discovery and recommendation platform helps the gifter with the best option according to various parameters. It was bootstrapped in early 2012 by Manoj Agarwal and Sumit Khandelwal.

Started with an office in Bangalore, they have expanded to Delhi and Mumbai after angel funding in May 2013. The portal started when Manoj and Sumit discussed some ideas which were shaping well in early 2012. "Manoj was handling gifting category as part of his marketing role at Flipkart. I found some good ideas working well in gifting internationally. Two of us iterated on couple of these ideas and finally started with Giftxoxo as a social gifting company. We pivoted and iterated as per market needs," says Sumit. "Later in 3-4 months, Abhishek and Kushal joined along our journey. Today we are a team of 25 people across three locations," adds Manoj.

[caption id="attachment_94613" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Founders of Giftxoxo - (L-R) Manoj Agarwal, Abhishek Kumar, and Sumit Khandelwal[/caption]

Giftxoxo is a unique gifting company solving two fundamental problems in gifting industry. One is the problem of gifter who is always grappling with the issue of finding the perfect gift according to a budget, location, interests, occasion and age of the receiver. Second is the problem at the receiver side, who is generally unhappy with the gift received either because he/she already have it or because it’s of no use. These two problems have made the exchange of gifts a very formal and uninteresting exercise, both for the sender and receiver of gifts. Giftxoxo brings novel and effective solutions to these problems through its discovery and choice gifting products.

"It also suggests gift options according to the social graph and buying pattern of the gift receiver. This solves the problem of finding the perfect gift. Giftxoxo experience gift box, xoxo voucher and choice cards solve the problem of receiver. "Each of these products is designed around the concept of choice. The receiver thus gets to choose any one option within the choice he/she gets," says Sumit, a TAPMI, Manipal Alumnus who has 7 years of work experience in sales and marketing.

"Overall no other player is actually solving both sides of the problems in gifting as we do. Having taken the first mover advantage, working with over 250 corporate clients and more than 50% repeat we are placed well in market," adds Manoj who has worked with Yahoo, Manipal Education and Flipkart for 7 years. Apart from that they are getting good traction on their website.

They plan to expand to more cities and focus on B2C aggressively. "We are introducing some breakthrough features on our website which would make gifting much more engaging," says Abhishek, an alumnus of IIT Bombay with a background of providing technology solutions for Supply Chain, E-Commerce, Business Intelligence, and Mobiles. They plan to become the largest experience gifting company in India.

As a message for future entrepreneurs, Kushal says, "Do a good homework before you start. Meet people in the ecosystem and take a quick informed call. Execute, Iterate fast and get your business model right. Customers, revenue, funding and other things will come as long as your business model is right and you have put good efforts in execution." Kushal handles marketing and vendor relations at Giftxox.