Prsnt’s 'mini-gifting' concept involves sending affordable, meaningful gifts redeemable from shops, cafés, pubs or online retailers, all for the same price as a birthday card and a stamp. It has partnered with over 100 of household brands including the likes of Amazon, Asos, All Bar One, Spotify, Deliveroo, Uber, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Nike, M&S, Sports Direct and The Body Shop among others. 

“What we’re trying to achieve is a modern way of gifting, removing all the bottlenecks in terms of hassle, whilst also addressing sustainability,” says Omid Moallemi, Co-Founder and CEO of Prsnt.

“Prsnt achieves same-second delivery, so it’s perfect for when you realise that it’s a friend or a family birthday, or you don’t want the delay of sending something in the post.”

The app reminds users when their friends’ birthdays are, and lets them send a gift, perhaps a coffee or glass of wine, and a personal video message straight to their phone when they can’t be there with them to celebrate.

“With Prsnt, giftees receive an invite to the app, and once downloaded are able to view the personalised message from the sender, and reveal their gift by digitally 'unwrapping' it with their finger on the phones touch screen, like a virtual scratch card,” said Moallemi.

“Then, open it to find a voucher to buy their favourite Starbucks coffee, or a drink at their local pub to redeem from that day.”

 The Prsnt team formed in March 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and launched the beta version of the app in December 2020 testing it through peer-to-peer referrals. 

Omid Moallemi describes why mini-gifts are a natural evolution for the gifting realm that reflects the make-up of our friendship circles today, thanks to social media.

“Prsnt fulfils the momentary need to celebrate somebody you don’t get to see as often as you would like,” he said.

“You don’t want to just send someone a WhatsApp or a text message, it feels underwhelming. It doesn’t in any way represent or reflect the way you feel about them. With Prsnt, you can send them all a little something instead, something a bit more thoughtful.”

Currently, the aim is for the app to support UK retailers as they open up again after several lockdowns, riding the greenshoots consumers return to shops, pubs and cafés.

“We want to be a catalyst for growth for UK high streets as society returns to pre-pandemic habits,” said Omid Moallemi.  

Likewise, if lockdown restrictions were to return, Prsnt has enormous potential for helping people stay connected with digital mini-gifts that can be redeemed from online retailers.

“I think the pandemic showed we’re a COVID-proof business,” said Omid Moallemi.

“Lockdown showed everybody what life is like if you can’t physically see your friends on their birthday. If we did have a lockdown again, we would be in a good position as a digital gifting company.”

The long-term vision for Prsnt is to increase the degree of personalisation the app offers. “The eventual goal is for Prsnt is to offer a personalised set of gift options for each friend,” said Omid Moallemi.

“The idea is to take that pressure off of both parties, to give in a smarter way, and use tech to bridge the gap to remove that stress, we believe this is going to be a powerful feature.”

Prsnt is set to raise £3m funding (EIS Advance Assurance) from investors as it targets deeper integrations with retailers and more personalisation for users. It has already raised £290k and expects to reach £3m at a valuation of £10m. 

Prsnt Co-Founders Omid Moallemi and David Parr were working as Co-Directors of a marketing and design agency when they began developing Prsnt.

They share a co-working space in Brighton’s North Laine with Technology Developer Hamish Page, Marketeer Louis Wren, and IT Specialist Dan Hamilton of Source 3 Media. The two teams joined forces to combine their diverse skill sets and build Prsnt.