GoWish’s shopping and wish list app is having its biggest year yet

Recession fears may be dampening retail forecasts — but not the gift economy. The popular wish list and social shopping app GoWish is seeing record-breaking user growth heading into the 2025 holiday season, climbing to No. 2 on the U.S. App Store this week.

The app, which now boasts over 13.6 million registered users, doubled its user base from last year and has been adding hundreds of thousands of new users daily throughout November, marking its most enormous surge since launch.

GoWish Hits Holiday Highs

In the United States alone, GoWish counts nearly 6.2 million users, while the U.K. accounts for about 1 million. In its home country of Denmark, GoWish dominates with more than 3.5 million users — representing over 50% market penetration.

Despite its success as a modern tech company, GoWish’s roots trace back to an unlikely origin story.

Image Credits: GoWish

From Postal Service Project to Global Scale-Up

GoWish was initially launched in 2015 by the Danish-Swedish postal service PostNord as a seasonal campaign called “Ønskeskyen” (Danish for “wish cloud”). What began as a fun holiday gimmick quickly gained traction among consumers.

In 2020, the app was acquired by Danish venture capital firm Dotcom Capital, which founder and Chief Growth Officer Casper Ravn-Sørensen and CEO Mads Dahlerup own. The founders spun it out as an independent startup.

“We might be the first state-founded tech platform to go global as a privately-owned scale-up,”
said Ravn-Sørensen in an interview.

They rebranded Ønskeskyen into GoWish, building a unified international version for global expansion — first rolling out in Denmark and Norway, and later across Europe and North America.

Image Credits: GoWish

A Simple Formula: Make Gifting Easier

The GoWish app allows users to create multiple wish lists — for birthdays, weddings, holidays, or personal goals — and share them with friends and family. Items can be added by copying a product link, searching within the app, or browsing curated “inspiration” feeds filled with millions of products.

When users are ready to make a purchase, a tap redirects them directly to the retailer’s website.
To avoid duplicate gifts, GoWish lets others reserve items from shared lists — eliminating awkward returns and ensuring the perfect surprise.

65,000 Affiliates and Growing Profits

The Copenhagen-based company now collaborates with over 65,000 affiliate partners and more than 700 brand partners, many of whom have added dedicated “GoWish” buttons to their websites.

That network has paid off. GoWish reported $1.7 million in post-tax net profit for fiscal year 2024, all of which is being reinvested into global growth. (The company declined to share total revenue figures.)

Strategic ad campaigns across Meta, TikTok, Google, and Snap have fueled its user boom. Notably, Snap highlighted GoWish during its Q4 earnings call, naming it one of its “partner success stories.”

“We’re very good at optimizing our marketing spends across digital platforms,” said Ravn-Sørensen.
“That’s what makes our global rollout so effective.”

The Road Ahead: AI and the ‘Global Genie’ Vision

While GoWish isn’t sharing specifics yet, the company confirmed plans to integrate AI into its platform to personalize recommendations and enhance user engagement.

“Our mission is simple — to fix gifting,” said Ravn-Sørensen. “We want to make users’ dreams and wishes come true while making double-gifting and returns a thing of the past.”

He added that, in the long run, the company aims to become the “global genie” of social shopping, using data to predict consumer trends across generations.

Backed for Global Expansion

GoWish currently employs around 90 people and is backed by London-based private equity firm Capital D, which acquired a one-third stake in early 2025. Dotcom Capital holds the remaining ownership.

The app is available on iOS and Android, with a Chrome extension that lets users add products from any website directly to their wish lists.