A billion-dollar valuation for a gift card company? To explain why that’s not batshit crazy, NEA General Partner Tony Florence said the sleepy gift card market has moved to digital in a big way only in the last few years. Moreover, Raise is seeing a ton of usage on mobile devices, with shoppers buying discounted digital gift cards on their phones while in the store to make an immediate purchase.

http://recode.net/2015/01/22/a-gift-card-startup-just-raised-56-million-at-nearly-a-1-billion-valuation/