Blackhawk Continues its Buying Spree of Industry Gift Card Firms

Blackhawk Network, Inc. recently announced that it has acquired CashStar, Inc., a provider of gift card commerce solutions, mobile payments and digital gifting. Blackhawk acquired CashStar for approximately $175 million in cash. The acquisition extends Blackhawk’s strength in the third-party and incentives businesses to the large first-party market. In addition, it provides retailers and distributors with more powerful options in mobile and digital distribution – two of the fastest-growing gift card segments in the industry today. CashStar’s commerce platform enables retailers to market, sell and distribute digital and plastic gift cards in the first-party digital card business, directly to consumers and businesses across a wide range of channels. “Joining forces with Blackhawk will help us deliver even more powerful capabilities and new revenue opportunities for our clients and partners,” says Ben Kaplan, CEO and President of CashStar. “Together, we can provide merchants with unified end-to-end solutions for B2B and B2C gift card distribution.” For more information, click here.