Despite global recession fears, wish list and shopping app GoWish is experiencing record-breaking growth ahead of the 2025 holiday season. The Copenhagen-based platform, which allows users to create and share digital wish lists, now has over 13.6 million registered users worldwide and recently reached No. 2 on the U.S. App Store, marking its best performance to date.
GoWish has doubled its user base from last year, gaining hundreds of thousands of new users daily in November. In the U.S., it boasts 6.2 million users, with 1 million in the U.K., and an impressive 3.5 million in Denmark, representing over 50 percent market penetration.
Originally launched in 2015 by the Danish-Swedish postal service PostNord as “Ønskeskyen” (meaning “wish cloud”), the app started as a seasonal gifting tool before transforming into a global social shopping platform. In 2020, it was acquired by Danish VC firm Dotcom Capital, co-owned by Casper Ravn Sørensen and Mads Dahlerup, who now serve as Chief Growth Officer and Chief Executive Officer respectively. The company was later spun off as an independent tech firm with an international version of the app, making it one of the first state-founded platforms to successfully evolve into a privately owned global scale-up.
GoWish’s business model revolves around seamless online gifting experiences. Users can create wish lists for multiple occasions and add products by pasting URLs, searching within the app, or browsing curated feeds. The company has formed around 65,000 affiliate partnerships and 700 brand collaborations, many of which now feature “GoWish” buttons on their websites.
Its 2024 fiscal year closed with $1.7 million in net profit after tax, reinvested into marketing and expansion. The firm attributes its surge in users to strong promotional campaigns across Meta, TikTok, Google, and Snap, with Snapchat naming GoWish as one of its standout partner success stories.
Looking ahead, GoWish plans to integrate artificial intelligence to enhance user personalization and shopping predictions. “Our mission is to fix gifting,” said Sørensen, adding that the platform seeks to eliminate double-gifting and returns through features that allow friends and family to reserve items.
Backed by Capital D, a London-based private equity firm with a one-third stake, and supported by Dotcom Capital, GoWish continues to grow as a Scandinavian success story. Available on iOS, Android, and Chrome, the app aims to become the “global genie” of social shopping, predicting future consumer trends and redefining the art of digital gifting worldwide.