The Signal: The market for gifting just keeps on giving. Subscribers to r/ArtisanGifts have ballooned ~400% since December 2020. VC is flowing into startups like corporate gifting’s &Open ($7.2m last May) and Japan’s gifting platform Gracia (~$14m since its 2017 launch).

Establishing connections is a major goal of gifting. As remote everything continues to rise, keeping connected to clients and loved ones will be key. We unwrap 3 areas of opportunity:

1. Corporate gifting: Forget loyalty points — gifting is the new customer retention strategy.

Source: &Open