PlaySpan Acquires Spare Change - Combining Forces to Monetize Social Games

PlaySpan, which has built a virtual currency monetization platform for online and social games, has just announced that it has acquired Spare Change, one of the largest providers of micropayments on social networks like Facebook and MySpace. Together, the companies will combine forces to help social game developers more powerfully monetize through virtual currency and micropayments. PlaySpan already acquired payment company PayByCash last year, and recently announced a white label payment deal with hi5. The company says it is powering more than 1,000 online games, social networks, and virtual worlds. It also operates the Ultimate Gamer Card business. Spare Change was one of the earliest players on Facebook and other social networking platforms, enabling users to purchase Spare Change "credits" with real cash, which they could then spend in very small increments with any of the 700 apps or games in the Spare Change network. The company is reportedly on track to process $30 million in micropayments on social apps this year. “Spare Change was designed specifically for social networks, so it complements our existing monetization platform for online games and virtual worlds,” said Karl Mehta, Founder and CEO of PlaySpan. “Combining Spare Change’s fast growing user base with our deep operational experience and trusted brands provides a one stop monetization solution for our developers and publisher partners worldwide. In addition, its founders, Lex Bayer, Simon Ru, and Mark Rose have impressive social network monetization experience that will complement our management team and add significant value to our clients and end users. We are very excited to add Spare Change to the PlaySpan platform.” As Inside Facebook noted last week, the payments space for social game and app developers is white hot. We expect to see consolidation continue throughout the year. Other companies developing similar payment and analytics solutions on social networks include SocialGold and TwoFish, among a host of others in the social payments ecosystem. PlaySpan has raised over $16 million from Easton Capital Group, Menlo Mentures, Novel TMT Ventures, STIC and others.

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PlaySpan Acquires Spare Change - Combining Forces to Monetize Social Games

Justin Smith

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