Founder David Jones Website Official website | Products Gift cards Founded November 2006 | |
CardLab is a Texas-based company that provides branded giftcards for companies to use as employee incentives or for sale to customers.
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The company
CardLab was founded in Dallas, Texas during 2007 by current CEO David Jones. Between 2007 and 2011 they served over 5700 different businesses, providing them with branded giftcards for them to give as incentives to employees—cards branded by the company giving them, but that can be used at anywhere. The cards were not reloadable and could be loaded with up to $2500. In December 2008 the cards were featured in the O Magazine Holiday Gift Guide. The company runs two websites through which their products can be purchased, IncentiveCardLab.com, GiftCardLab.com, and also own Giftcard.com, a domain name they purchased in late 2012 for $4 million in cash and stock. Part of the deal also involved the acquisition of 1-800-Giftcard.com, its toll-free number, and client list. They also raised $3 million in financing from Cypress Growth Capital that same year.
The company started out allowing companies or stores to develop their own custom Visa Gift Cards. Starting in 2012, local companies could sign up for their own personal custom gift cards produced through CardLab as well. CardLab has targeted companies both nationally and within their central region of Texas, representing about major 130 brands as of mid-2012. National clients that use CardLab for their giftcards include Best Buy, Chili’s, Disney, J.C. Penney, iTunes, Neiman Marcus and Marriott Hotels. Between 2012 and 2013 the company doubled its revenues, and they moved their headquarters from Dallas to Addison, Texas in August 2013. According to Addison Magazine, as of that month, "The company supplie[d] prepaid award cards to more ... 35% of Fortune 100 companies." It also reported that the company was among the "top 50 fastest growing e-retailers in 2012".
Executives
CEO David Jones has been interviewed regarding employee engagement with the companies they work for, in addition to how to prevent giftcard fraud associated with over-the-counter giftcards, focusing on the greater safety of custom giftcards that are not stored on public shelves where potential thieves can record the information necessary to fraud giftcard purchasers.
Philanthropy
In August 2012 the company donated a $50 Visa gift card to the charity Bryan's House for every purchase made on their website, a charity that supports children affected by HIV, AIDS, and other special health issues in the Dallas area. The company commonly runs month-long fundraising campaigns for charities or non-profits nominated by the company staff, including national charities like Breast Cancer Walk.