Veterans of multibillion-dollar gift card industry offer an adaptable, end-to-end gift card management solution so companies can focus on their core business
TOTUS, a leading company to issue and fully manage multi-channel gift card programs for brands in a range of industries, has launched with significant seed financing to address a major unmet need in the multibillion-dollar gift card market.
Led by industry veterans with a combined 100 years of experience pioneering and managing gift card programs, TOTUS offers a scalable, adaptable program that manages issuance, distribution, marketing and all complex legal, compliance and regulatory work that gift card programs require.
“Global gift card sales could exceed $1 trillion within the next five years,” TOTUS co-founder and CEO Dave Jones says. “But creating and managing these programs is not a core competency for any business. That’s why we founded TOTUS. Brands need a partner that has expertise in everything from compliance to card production to processing to fraud prevention to distribution and marketing. Our team has that expertise, enabling us to offer our brand partners an end-to-end solution that’s scalable and easily adapted across industries.”
Jones co-founded TOTUS after 20 years of entrepreneurial and leadership experience in the e-commerce and payments industries, having served as a Head of the Digital and Incentives divisions at Blackhawk Network, a global gift card company acquired by Silverlake Private Equity in 2018. Jones’ previous founder successes include exits with CardLab, PAYjr, RewardLayer and Billserv. He has also held senior roles with BillMatrix, Fiserv and JP Morgan Chase. The senior leadership team at TOTUS is comprised of veterans from gift card provider SVM, CardLab, Blackhawk Network and other leading payments, gift card and e-commerce companies.
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“Launching a gift card program was a critical part of our strategy to grow our business,” says Ben Soppitt, CEO of Unifimoney, a customer of TOTUS. “When we started the process, we were surprised to learn how complex it is to navigate the legal, regulatory, compliance and tactical operations of gift cards. TOTUS was the only partner we could find to take this off our plate and bring the necessary experience to ensure it’s done correctly. Within days of our initial conversations with the team, we had a structure and agreement that met our needs and will allow us to achieve the sales and distribution we’re looking for.”
Jones is scheduled to share his vision for TOTUS and insights on the fast-growing gift card industry at the Lead Innovation Summit in Brooklyn, New York on July 12-13, an event where more than 1,700 leaders in retail, fashion and consumer innovation connect with the world’s top brands. Jones will be speaking on July 12 at 1:30pm ET alongside other industry leaders, including Brandon Gell, Founder and CEO of Clyde, Benjamin Davis, Founder and CEO of TryNow and Adam Rivietz, Co-Founder and CSO of #paid.
TOTUS is in the process of launching with a dozen leading brands, to be announced, from a variety of industries and verticals. TOTUS raised significant capital from angel investors, prompting the company’s inception in February 2022. Financial terms were not disclosed.
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