[April 16, 2012]

Wrapp Sets up Operations in Netherlands

Wrapp, the company that makes it fun and easy to give, receive and redeem gift cards using mobile devices or the Web, has set up operations here and is starting to sign major merchants.

For smartphone owners who are regular users of Facebook (News - Alert), Wrapp makes it possible to celebrate, thank, surprise and delight friends and family, any time, from anywhere, with free gift cards from top brands.

For merchants, Wrapp is a proven, customer acquisition and retention platform for conducting discount-free performance-based campaigns. With Wrapp, retailers use friend-to-friend marketing to drive highly targeted in-store and on-line sales, and get real-time access to aggregated campaign and customer demographic data.

"We think gift giving should be an everyday event between friends and family," said Mariolein Van Der Plas, Wrapp's country manager for the Netherlands. "Thank you. Congratulations on the new job. Happy Monday. Everyone loves to be recognized and celebrated, and Wrapp makes it easy to be a caring friend, and a way for friends in common to join-in."

Wrapp is now available in the U.K., Norway and Sweden, and soon in the U.S., Germany, France, Denmark, Finland and Taiwan. Since mid-November when Wrapp began its commercial introduction some 160,000 people have given their friends more than 1.3 million gift cards that can be redeemed in stores operated by over 50 major retailers across Europe.

Participating merchants report that the aveage purchase generated by Wrapp is at least four to six times the value of the free gift card the retailer provides for friends to give to one another.

"One of the things people using Wrapp have come to love most is that the gift cards you receive are stored in your phone, so they're always with you when you want to buy something you really want," said Van Der Plas. "And because we operate on the web, anyone around the world can now use Wrapp to send free gift cards to Facebook friends in Sweden, the U.K., and Norway, and very soon in the Netherlands."

To start sending free gift cards to friends and family, download the Wrapp mobile app from Apple's App Store, the Android (News - Alert) Market, or use the web app at www.wrapp.com, and connect it to your Facebook account.

Wrapp was started last year by Wrapp's CEO Hjalmar Winbladh and a small team of entrepreneurs in Sweden, including Andreas Ehn, Spotify's first chief technology officer; Magnus Hult, who played a key role in building Spotify's original technology and platform; Aage Reerslev, founder of mobile browser maker Squace; Leo Giertz, founder of Barefoot Hackers, one of Sweden's most acclaimed iPhone (News - Alert) development shops; Fabian Mansson, former CEO of H&M and Eddie Bauer, who now serves as Wrapp's chairman; and Carl Fritjofsson, strategy advisor to Groupon.se. Winbladh co-founded Sendit, the first mobile Internet company, where he served as CEO, and took it public in 1997, before being acquired by Microsoft (News - Alert). In 2006 Winbladh co-founded Rebtel, now the world's largest independent mobile VoIP company.

"The Netherlands is an important market for Wrapp," said Winbladh. "We're well funded by Atomico (News - Alert) and Greylock Partners - the venture capital firms of our board members Niklas Zennström, co-founder of Skype, and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of the social network LinkedIn - and we're not afraid of making significant investments here to insure success for Dutch retailers."

About Wrapp

Wrapp is a social gifting service for celebrating friends' occasions with free and paid gifts from attractive brands. Wrapp allows friends to contribute to gifts, and makes it fun and easy to give, receive and redeem using mobile devices and the web. Founded in the first half of 2011 by a group of serial entrepreneurs, Wrapp is based in Stockholm, with offices in the U.K., U.S., Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Taiwan. Celebrate with friends every day at www.wrapp.com.

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