Significant Investment Fuels Raise’s Blockchain Aspirations
In an investment round headed by Haun Ventures and supported by PayPal, the Chicago-based gift card marketplace Raise has successfully received $63 million. By improving Raise’s blockchain-based Smart Cards system, the investment hopes to transform the conventional gift card market.
Expansion is fueled by strategic investors
Prominent investors such as Accel, New Enterprise Associates, and other important companies participated in the investment round, increasing Raise’s total cash received to more than $220 million. The startup intends to use these resources to add programmable features and enhance security by integrating blockchain tokenization into gift cards.
How Gift Cards Are Being Reshaped by Blockchain
By converting traditional gift cards into blockchain tokens, Raise’s Smart Cards technology ensures an unchangeable transaction record. CEO George Bousis emphasized that this innovation, which was created over a ten-year period, successfully addresses industry problems such as interoperability and counterfeiting. Through smart contracts, the system also enables merchants to incorporate expiration dates, loyalty benefits, and other programmable features into gift cards.
Encouraging Blockchain Standards Across the Industry
The Retail Alliance Foundation, a nonprofit organization working with Raise’s subsidiary, BFG Labs, will get a share of the recently raised money. By creating worldwide blockchain standards for gift cards, this alliance hopes to create a cohesive network that improves security and cross-brand interoperability.
Creating Programmable Retail Currency Out of Gift Cards
Bousis highlighted how blockchain-enabled smart cards have the potential to develop into a programmable “retail currency,” boosting customer flexibility and loyalty. The worldwide gift card market is expected to reach over $2.3 trillion by 2030, therefore Raise’s blockchain integration is expected to have a big impact.
Overcoming Obstacles and Growing the Ecosystem
Raise is aggressively collaborating with companies like Walletconnect and Polkadot to streamline blockchain integration in spite of acceptance and regulatory obstacles. In order to establish itself as a major player in Web3-based loyalty and payment systems, the company has committed to investing nine figures over the next several years to expand its Smart Cards ecosystem.
