Ackroo announces the acquisition of PhotoGIFTCARD

Ackroo expands its gift card offering and merchant footprint with asset acquisition

OTTAWA, Jan. 29, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Ackroo Inc. (TSXV: AKR) ("the Company"), a gift card, loyalty and rewards technology and services provider, and PhotoGIFTCARD are pleased to announce that the two companies have reached an agreement for Ackroo to acquire all of the assets of PhotoGIFTCARD.  This strategic acquisition will further strengthen Ackroo's penetration of the rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar gift card market by adding innovative features to their existing market leading platform. This acquisition will also increase Ackroo's merchant footprint by adding PhotoGIFTCARD's more than 500 merchant locations.

"We are very excited to add PhotoGIFTCARD's solution to our product portfolio" said Steve Levely, chief executive officer at Ackroo. "This solution adds an important feature that we know will appeal to many of our merchants.   Through this acquisition we will be able to offer our merchants an easy to use, intuitive portal that gives consumers and businesses the ability to create and customize their gift cards.  We also gain the ability to provide an online gift card mall for all of our customers where they can share a single online Ackroo shopping destination that will allow consumers to purchase our merchants gift cards via e-gift or physical standard or custom cards.  These features are a great compliment to our current offering and a major value add for our growing list of merchants helping to further differentiate Ackroo in the marketplace.  PhotoGIFTCARD has also done an excellent job of supporting and growing their merchant base.  We look forward to adding their great customers to our customer base and we are committed to extending the same great service they have experienced to date." 

"PhotoGIFTCARD was built to add value to an otherwise two dimensional gift card space" says James Roberts, president at PhotoGIFTCARD. "We recognized a need in a crowded marketplace to provide a personalized experience to gift cards by allowing companies to share their brand with established merchants. From there we developed our product and acquired a great group of customers that we are very proud of. The next phase for us was to get into the e-gift space and eventually gift card processing business that Ackroo is currently in today. This acquisition allows us to instantly provide that full service offering to our customers.   We have complete confidence in Ackroo's team to take our offering to the next level and we fully expect they will become a very dominant player in the gift card marketplace."

About PhotoGIFTCARD

PhotoGIFTCARD.com is a privately held company with deep roots in consumer goods marketing, production and distribution. The Company provides a software and fulfillment solution that allows consumers or companies to personalize or co-brand their favorite gift card. Recognizing the opportunity to address the Gift Card market with a personal touch was the seed for developing their proprietary PhotoGIFTCARD.com system. The Company's focus is on providing a simple, flexible, user-friendly service that anyone can use. PhotoGIFTCARD is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada. For more information, visit: www.photogiftcard.com.

About Ackroo

Ackroo provides gift card and loyalty solutions into the $160 billion North American gift card and loyalty market. Their solutions enable businesses, merchants and business networks to increase profitability and build long-term customer relationships through customized gift card and loyalty programs. Ackroo's web-based solutions provide the power of a massively scalable software platform in a lightweight online tool that works with existing point-of-sale equipment, making it easy and affordable for businesses to launch gift card & loyalty programs that deliver immediate return on investment. Ackroo is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. For more information, visit: www.ackroo.com.

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Ackroo Inc.

Steve Levely, Chief Executive Officer, Ackroo, Tel: [phone] x730, Email: [email protected]