Defining moment for GoWish as Danish firm bags top spot in US App Store ahead of the holiday season
Danish wishlist app GoWish reached number one on the US App Store yesterday morning as the social shopping platform added 155,403 new American users in a single day during Sunday.
The Copenhagen-based company has just rounded 15 million users globally including, as of 16th November, a total of 7.234.423 registered US users as well as more than 3.5 million users in Denmark, where GoWish operates under its original name Ønskeskyen - or “wish cloud.”
Originally launched in 2015 by the national Danish-Swedish postal service, PostNord, Ønskeskyen was spun out in 2020 by VC Dotcom Capital. It launched GoWish in 2023.
Backed by London-based private equity firm Capital D, which in early 2025 acquired one-third of the venture, the GoWish and Ønskeskyen apps are currently topping App Store charts in not just the US, but also Norway and Sweden with six figure daily downloads globally, and in the ten days since 7th November, GoWish has globally added more than 1.1 million new users.
“This is not just a defining moment for us, but Danish tech in general, as we become the first non-gaming app out of Denmark to hit number one on the US app store,” says Casper Ravn-Sørensen, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at GoWish, which lays claim to more than 65,000 affiliates and over 700 brand partners.
“Just five years ago, we spun the platform out, and to envision that we went from a state owned Scandinavian wishlist gimmick to a global social shopping phenomenon, topping the download charts in the US, is a pretty wild origin story - and with much more to come, this is just the beginning.”
Users can create and share wishlists for any occasion, adding products from any online store or from the app’s inspiration feeds, with millions of items. Friends and family can then reserve gifts to avoid duplicates.
GoWish credits its growth to a data driven global roll-out and collaboration with Meta, TikTok, Google and especially Snap, which featured GoWish as a success story and mentioned in its Q4 earnings call, noting it was “outperforming other large digital platforms” on cost-per-install and app installs.
“We’ve built a platform that makes gifting fun, personal, and stress free, which is perfect for the holidays,” says Ravn-Sørensen. “As we enter the peak shopping season, our mission to ‘fix gifting’ resonates stronger than ever with conscious consumers, which will increase our intake of both new partners and users.”
2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS
Social shopping was a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.
We received a record number of entries and many fantastic examples of the continued resilience and dynamism of the retail space during hugely challenging times.
For a full rundown of all of the shortlisted entries, click here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC in Central London on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
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