After launching in the U.S. this summer, the Victoria, Canada-based start-up Kiind has launched its digital gift card platform in Canada. The pay-on-use service charges a gift card purchaser only when the recipient has redeemed the card. Purchasers can use a smartphone to buy gift cards through Kiind, and recipients can redeem the cards using a mobile device.

Kiind has signed up U.S. retailers such as Amazon, Columbia Sportswear, Gap, Home Depot, iTunes and Nike as well as local businesses in cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. For its Canadian launch, Kiind has added Canadian retailers including Cineplex, Foot Locker, Harvey's, Kelsey's Restaurants and Milestones.

According to a press release, consumers can purchase digital gift cards from hundreds of North American retailers on Kiind’s website.

Currently, Kiind is mobile-configured for browsers, but the company plans to introduce a series of mobile apps, a Kiind spokesperson said in an interview. Kiind digital gift card recipients get a code from Kiind, which they can store in their email inbox. To redeem a Kiind-issued gift card on a smartphone, recipients show the code stored on their phone at the till if they are in a bricks-and-mortar store, or use the code on their browser for online purchases.

"Kiind is built into the digital wallets of iPhone and Android devices," the spokesperson said. "This means that recipients get location-based pop-up reminders when they're near bricks-and-mortar locations. Kiind reminds users that they have a code to use before it expires."

Gift cards are notoriously wasteful, the company said, with up to 18 percent going unused.

"Recent changes to consumer protection and tax laws in both Canada and the U.S. have made unused gift cards costly to manage for retailers," the company said in a news release. "Kiind solves these headaches by managing the process, end-to-end, for retailers."

Leif Baradoy, Kiind's CEO and co-founder, said people expect just-in-time payments whether they are downloading songs or apps for their phones. "Gift cards shouldn't be any different," he said in the release.

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