Business & Tech

Ellicott City Gift Card Business Named Fastest Growing Company

Inc. magazine ranked GiftCardRescue.com as one of the top 200 fastest growing companies in America.

Have you ever had a gift card that you'd like to trade for cash? An Ellicott City internet company turned that idea into a business. The vision helped land it on Inc. magazine's list of the fastest growing companies in America at 151 out of 5,000.

GiftCardRescue.com is the idea of Kwame Kuadey, who started the company in 2008, then garnered a break in 2009 when he appeared on the ABC series "Shark Tank", where he landed a $200,000 investment for the budding company.


Since then, Kuadey's idea of buying gift cards at a discount then selling them for less than face value has taken off. According to Inc.'s figures, GiftCardeRescue.com has increased its 2009 revenue of $250,830 to $6.6 million, a 2,518 percent increase.

The web site currently has cards from a variety of retailers and restaurants. For example, you could buy an $88.50 card to PacSun for $66.37 or 26 percent off Ann Taylor LOFT gift cards.

Inc. ranked GiftCardRescue.com as the third fastest growing company in the state. The company is listed as having eight employees. 


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