Gift Connect pivoted from a Groupon-style offering (All Star Deals) to a gift-based advertising platform that replaces regular ads with redeemable gifts from brands. Brands create targeted campaigns (for example, $10 of Papa John’s pizza to Philadelphia Flyers fans) and publishers — sports teams, artists, affinity groups — send links to their audiences across social, print, radio and other touchpoints. Gifts are free and do not require any additional purchase; the platform operates on a performance basis and pays publishers on every redemption or action. Revenue is shared 50/50 between Gift Connect and its publishers. Founder Mark Levin frames the approach as “gift-tizing” and says the main challenge is educating the market on the value of this ad format. Before the Series B, the company had previously raised $1.7 million as All Star Deals. AllStar Deals operates an online commerce platform that connects brands, agencies, celebrities and their affiliated charities to drive product sales, per the company website. The company is based in Rockville. According to SEC filings cited in the article, AllStar Deals has raised $500,000 in equity. The article does not report additional operating metrics such as revenue or user counts. No details about investor identities or prior financing rounds are provided in the article. The company was noted in a local startup roundup alongside other Maryland companies.

Total raised

$6M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Nov 2014