Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Karlin, A-Grade Get Exit At Gyft

Two, Southern California venture capital investors---A-Grade Investments, the investment company run by Ashton Kutcher, and Karlin Ventures, which is managed by TX Zhou--have scored what looks like a nice exit over at Gyft, a mobile gift card service. Credit card processing giant First Data said this morning that it has acquired Gyft, to help bolster its mobile wallet and gift card efforts. Financial details of the buy were not disclosed. Gyft's shareholders also included Social+Capital Partnership, Haas Portman and David O. Sacks. First Data said the buy will allow its current customers to access a new and growing distribution channel. Gyft was based in San Francisco. A-Grade Investments, Karlin Ventures, and Gyft's other investors invested $5M in a Series A back in September, less than a year ago.