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Raise is a blockchain-based gift card marketplace founded in 2013 and headquartered in Chicago, USA. It allows users to buy or sell digital gift cards from over 450 retailers at discounted prices, covering categories such as dining, travel, and shopping. The platform leverages smart contracts and blockchain technology to ensure transparent, fraud-resistant transactions, and offers API solutions for enterprise integration. Raise aims to reshape the traditional gift card industry by enhancing transaction security and efficiency.
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About Raise
Raise is a secondary marketplace for gift cards, founded in 2013, where users can buy and sell discounted gift cards from major brands like Airbnb, Walmart, and Instacart. The platform's core innovation is integrating blockchain to create 'smart cards' — digital gift cards that support real-time balance updates, programmability, and secure transferability.
Market pain point: In the US, gift cards are a massive but inefficient market — billions of dollars go unused each year, fraud is common, and the payment infrastructure involves multiple intermediaries (processors, card manufacturers, issuers, banks), making transactions costly and opaque.
Raise solves this by using stablecoins for settlement: when a customer buys a gift card, funds are held in a retailer's escrow account via stablecoins, and when the card is used, Raise pays the retailer through ACH or stablecoins. This reduces intermediaries, lowers costs, and records transactions on a tamper-proof ledger, improving security and preventing fraud.
Recent development (2026-03 to 2026-09): In April 2026, Raise announced at Solana Breakpoint that it will build its smart card and loyalty ecosystem on Solana, leveraging the network's high performance to support loyalty rewards for brands like Uber and Fanatics. The platform continues to expand its digital gift card offerings, focusing on chain-based loyalty integration.
Founded in 2013 by George Bousis, Raise launched as a gift card marketplace where users could buy and sell discounted gift cards. It secured $18.1 million in funding that same year, followed by $56 million from New Enterprise Associates in 2015.
In 2022, Bousis decided to pivot toward blockchain, investing approximately $25 million from company profits to build an on-chain platform. In February 2025, Raise completed a $63 million strategic round led by Haun Ventures to develop "Smart Cards" — a blockchain-based gift card system using stablecoin settlement, designed to reduce payment costs and enhance fraud prevention. Cumulative funding reached approximately $220 million.
Founder, Chairman & CEO: George Bousis. He founded Raise in 2013. Previously a professional gamer and worked at family-owned Cermak Fresh Market. Under his leadership, Raise facilitated over $5B in transactions, saved consumers over $400M, and raised over $275M from investors. He holds 30+ patents in payments, loyalty, and blockchain.
Other current core executives: Frank Salinas (CTO), Jordan Harris (COO & President), Geri Robinson (SVP Marketing). No reliable public bios available for them.