PlaySpan is a payments company whose payments platform handles transactions for digital goods in

online games An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PCs, consoles and mobile devices, a ...

digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, an ...

, and social networks.

Company history

PlaySpan was founded in 2006 by Karl Mehta. In July 2008, PlaySpan acquired Internet Payment Solutions, an alternative payments company, and in April 2009, PlaySpan acquired

Spare Change Payments Spare Change Payments was an online payments company specifically designed for conducting micro-payments inside games and applications on Facebook and other social networking sites. It is now owned by Visa, Inc. The company was the first to offer ...

, a social media payments company. The company received a total of $46 million in funding from investors Easton Capital,

Menlo Ventures Menlo Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California with an additional office in San Francisco, California. The firm was founded as one of the earliest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley in 1976 and provides technology ...

, Novel TMT Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank Capital,

STIC Investments STIC Investments Inc. is an international venture capital and private equity fund management firm.Youn, Jeong-He"국내 최대 창투사 STIC 인베스먼트(주) 부산사무소 개소식 (STIC Investments, No. 1 Domestic Equity Firm, Opens Busan ...

Softbank is a Japanese multinational Investment company, investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services ...

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

, and GE Asset Management. In March 2011,

Visa Inc. Visa Inc. () is an American multinational payment card services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit cards, debit c ...

acquired PlaySpan for $190 million in cash + earn-outs over 2 years, amounting to approximately $240 million in total purchase consideration.

References

{{reflist Financial services companies established in 2006 American companies established in 2006 Companies based in Santa Clara, California 2006 establishments in California Visa acquisitions 2011 mergers and acquisitions Online payments Payment service providers