Raise is a payments technology company replacing traditional gift cards with SmartCards. This eliminates PIN skimming fraud at the shelf, ties every transaction to a verified wallet, and delivers tap-and-pay checkout through Apple and Google Wallet.

Gift card fraud costs the U.S. retail industry over $1 billion annually, almost entirely through PIN theft on store shelves. Raise removes the attack vector entirely: there is no PIN on the card. A one-time claim code is generated only at the moment of purchase and delivered separately, making every unactivated card on the shelf worthless to an attacker.

Once claimed, cards live in Apple or Google Wallet with rotating credentials that prevent replay attacks and a full transaction history. Every card is tied to a verified wallet, giving retailers complete audit trails, automatic revenue attribution by store location, and a modern checkout experience, with no changes required at the register.

For more information contact:   jordan@raise.com  

Digimarc (NASDAQ: DMRC) is building the trust layer for the modern world. Our solutions, which embed machine-readable digital identifiers into physical and digital assets, empower people and businesses to verify what is real, authentic, and legitimate so they can transact with confidence. Applied to gift cards, Digimarc's breakthrough digital security layer stops fraud at checkout by automating detection of tampered cards at checkout and preventing their activation—and instantly activating valid cards for a seamless experience.

For more information contact:   Jaime.Yeager@digimarc.com  

GuardSign by Authentic Vision protects gift cards by removing what fraudsters steal: the code itself. Cards carry no redemption credentials. At purchase, the customer signs the card, scans its QR code to generate a personal activation barcode, and the cashier scans it at checkout. To redeem, the cardholder simply rescans the QR code to access the balance. Nothing to harvest – fraud-proof by design, and a fraction of the cost of alternative solutions.

Website:   www.authenticvision.com/industries/guardsign  

Point of contact: Johann Sulzenbacher,   johann.sulzenbacher@authenticvision.com  

The Ideas & Innovations (I&I’s) Gift Card Kiosk is a secure, self-service, print-on-demand gift card solution in 8.6 seconds which allows consumers to purchase and activate gift cards at the point of sale, eliminating the need for prepackaged gift cards on racks (at a gift card cost of + or - 25 cents). The I&I kiosks are able to encode magstripes for all the brands, as they currently do for Mastercard, which is also a first in the marketplace.

Their kiosk uses a proprietary InCompass Retail Software which does not see nor store PII data, gift card product numbers nor activation codes. I&I's print-on-demand kiosk does not print the card number or PIN before activation, thus preventing image fraud. Prior to purchase, the I&I kiosk software requires zip code confirmation, DL over $500, tracks AML risks and can limit consumer purchases. I&I’s kiosk eliminates cost and reduces environmental waste. At scale, the kiosk will save 5 million trees and over 500 thousand barrels of oil yearly!

They are helping consumers with online discounts at retail (for the first time), with instantly authorized/printed gift cards. The kiosks have ability to send personalized greeting cards with gift cards, audio/video messages and eWallet anywhere in the world in seconds (at no additional cost). Retailers are able to do the same sales volume in 4 square feet, instead of the current 16-64 square feet, offer unlimited promotions anytime, carry unlimited brands (not the current 70-120 brands), are never out of stock and are offered in any denomination.

I&I’s free “Brand Portal” allows brands the ability to manage their gift card assets anytime (change their T&Cs), add seasonal gift cards, run promotions/coupons/ads, view their sales/financials, and run customized reports.

For more information contact:   james@ideasinnovationsusa.com