Our Story
The idea of the gift credit was first conceived in 2008 when two friends, Adam Ludwig and Patrick Ledbetter, wanted to buy a beer for each other while sitting in restaurants in two separate parts of the country. Adam, sitting in a San Francisco restaurant, can buy Patrick, in a Boston restaurant, a gift credit for a beer in real time. When Patrick swiped his Visa card at the restaurant, he'd get a credit refunded to him for the beer Adam bought him. Pretty cool, we know.
Fast Forward a Year or two
Jason Wolfe, a gift card pioneer and founder of GiftCards.com, and Tom Isaacson, inventor and patent lawyer, teamed up in partnership with Adam and Patrick. GiftYa was formed and we were granted/issued several key patents around the process of gift credits.
In 2013, we tried to launch GiftYa commercially but the API connections and system to make it seamless to users were not ready for prime time. We tabled it to continue to focus on GiftCards.com which eventually reached over a billion in sales.
Focusing on GiftYa
In 2016, Wolfe sold GiftCards.com, the largest online gift card site, to Blackhawk Network and began focusing on GiftYa. In 2019, we grew to 45 employees and over 5,000 merchant locations using GiftYa. We continue to focus on the product, user experience, and partnerships. We sign up dozens of merchants daily and we hope to soon cover the entire U.S. GiftYa is connected to your current Visa, Mastercard or Amex and tied to the merchant; thus having no loss, no criminal activity, and can be purchased for any merchant in the USA.
Learn how GiftYa works
Send a personalized gift through text.
The foundation of our company is trust, with every interaction and transaction.
We give our time, talents and resources in service to each other and our community proactively.
Self motivated, empowered, diligent, and committed to our best performance in everything we do.
We create social cohesion and collaboration as we treat others with respect and collectively succeed.
Who We Are
Over 150 team members spanning 23 states, 4 time zones, and 1,082 years of combined experience. We are an elite team of gift card and fin-tech powerhouses to make GiftYa a household name. We are adventure seekers and DIYers. Dads, moms, grandparents, and pet parents. Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers. Wood workers, chefs, Star Wars fans, and musicians. Oh, and we all have one mission; to work hard, be nice, & create the next generation of gifting. We perform as a team of driven, high-integrity people who care about our customers, employees, and community.