Wrapp made its commercial launch in Sweden earlier this year following a seed investment from Creandum, the Nordic venture firm. The funding enabled Wrapp to conduct a proof-of-concept test and begin operations in its home market.
The Series A financing, which includes an investment from Creandum, will be used to launch Wrapp’s services in the US and UK, as well as for ongoing development of the Wrapp application. The business enables people to send, receive and redeem digital gift cards of real value from major brands. The cards are sent via social media networks and smartphones.
Chief executive Hjalmar Winbladh and a team of entrepreneurs including Andreas Ehn, Spotify’s founding chief technology officer, Carl Fritjofsson, digital media entrepreneur, Aage Reerslev, founder of mobile browser Squace, and Fabian Mansson, former chief executive of retain chain H&M, started the business earlier this year.
Wrapp is based in Stockholm, London and Silicon Valley. The service is currently operating only in Sweden where service partners include sporting goods retailer Stadium, consumer electronics chain Elgiganten, designer underwear brand Bjorn Borg, and street fashion brand WeSC.
Winbladh comments, ‘Facebook made it easy to connect and recognise our friends around the world with greetings. With Wrapp, friends and family can now celebrate each other with real gifts, just as easy as sending a hi, thank you or happy birthday wish.’
Zennström, the serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Skype, Kazaa and other companies, launched London-headquartered Atomico in 2006. In September this year, Zennstrom was named Venture Capital Personality of the Year at the Investor AllStars Awards in London. Other investors he has made in the past year include gaming business Rovio, developer of Angry Birds, and Spanish WiFi network Fon.
Zennström adds, ‘Wrapp is targeting a huge market by leveraging two mega-trends: social networks and smartphones. If anyone can disrupt the gift card industry for the better – make it larger by taking it digital, mobile and social – it’s the talented team at Wrapp.’
