Mastercard, CleverCards and Appreciate Group announced the Select Digital Gift Card on December 16, 2019. The companies described it as Europe’s first fully digital gift card; at launch it was sold through Highstreetvouchers.com for use at more than 6,400 outlets across 61 UK retail brands, including John Lewis, Topshop and Argos.

After recipient activation, Select Digital functions as a mobile-enabled prepaid Mastercard and allows the holder to check the remaining balance. Mastercard’s Scott Abrahams, Senior Vice President of Business Development, said the partnership was intended to give consumers more choice in how they pay.

Kealan Lennon, founder and CEO of CleverCards, described the digital Mastercard as a digital £50 note that can be instantly sent and spent electronically, across borders. Ian O'Doherty, CEO of Appreciate Group, stated that the company is proud to be the first in the UK to bring this type of technology to market, which reimagines how gift cards should work in a mobile-enabled world. The partnership plans to expand the CleverCards platform across further payment instrument use cases, including debit cards and corporate rewards.