Nift Networks

Nift Networks Inc. (operating as Nift, short for "neighborhood gift") runs a platform through which businesses give "thank-you" gifts to their customers, with the gift redemption steering recipients to discover other participating businesses. The company describes itself as an invitation-only network intended to bring local customers to neighborhood businesses, and says the network guarantees that participating businesses are discovered each time a partner thanks its best customers. The core product is the Nift gift card, which recipients can use to try brands and services at no direct cost to them.

According to Preqin, Nift serves a range of verticals including restaurants, retail, e-commerce and service providers, and companies use Nift cards to encourage customer actions such as writing reviews, making purchases or downloading apps. Public profiles classify the company under internet, digital/e-marketing, consumer web and tech services categories, with e-commerce and mobile apps listed as verticals and the company stage listed as Series A. Its website is listed as www.gonift.com and its Twitter handle as @NiftNetwork. Founding year is reported inconsistently across sources as 2014 (Preqin, Built In Boston), while Nift was originally established in Brookline, Massachusetts and developed in collaboration with the local businesses it was intended to serve.

Founding story

Nift, short for "neighborhood gift," was founded in Brookline, Massachusetts and was developed in collaboration with the local businesses it was created to help (Growjo, Built In Boston). Elery Pfeffer is identified as founder and CEO (Preqin, Growjo).

Business model

B2B: businesses subscribe to or partner with Nift and distribute Nift gift cards to their own customers as thank-you gifts, which in turn routes those recipients to other merchants on the network for customer acquisition and retention (Preqin).

Preqin states Nift generates revenue through partnerships with businesses that use gifts as a customer-engagement strategy, with companies paying for Nift's services and distributing gift cards to their clientele. Growjo lists an estimated annual revenue of about $19.6M and estimated revenue per employee of about $145,000; these are third-party estimates, not disclosed figures.

Traction

Growjo estimates 135 employees, employee growth of 42% over the prior year, and estimated annual revenue of approximately $19.6M. Preqin reports a total of three deals and total funding of about $16.5M.

Latest developments

Preqin describes the Series A proceeds as supporting growth, new customer-engagement and loyalty products, expansion into additional US regions and exploration of opportunities in Canada by the end of 2023. No more recent verified developments appear in the sources; news items surfaced on Growjo about "NIFT" B2B payments partnerships refer to a different Pakistani organization (National Institutional Facilitation Technologies) and are excluded.