Twitter today announced it has acquired payments infrastructure company CardSpring. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Currently there is no indication Twitter will be shutting down operations before folding them in. CardSpring says it will continue to grow its platform and work with its publisher, financial, and retail partners “to create new, innovative commerce experiences for consumers.”
CardSpring wants to build a payment platform that enables digital publishers and retailers to create the next generation of commerce for hundreds of millions of offline shoppers:
We see the intersection of payments and digital media as an opportunity to revolutionize how consumers use credit and debit cards, while helping retailers to connect and communicate with their offline shoppers – much in the same way the Internet has enabled online stores to create relationships with their online customers. When we started talking with the Twitter commerce team, we quickly realized our philosophies were perfectly aligned, and by joining them, we’d be able to significantly accelerate our vision.
Twitter meanwhile describes its acquisition as a tool for helping “merchants work with leading publishers to create online-to-offline promotions.” The company points out that it already allows users to get deals and discounts directly from a tweet. Paying for something, one could argue, is the next logical step (and Facebook would agree).
Founded by former Netscape engineers, CardSpring raised a $10 million Series A in January 2012. Its investors and advisors include Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, Morado Venture Partners, SV Angel, Data Collective, Felicis Ventures, the Webb Investment Network, FT Partners, Tim Cadogan, Bill Campbell, Ramneek Gupta, John Hering, Simon Levin, Farzad Nazem, Alex Rampell, Cyriac Roedinger and Brad Silverberg.
See also – Twitter cuts off another payment service: Flattr is told to stop tying Favorites to money and Amazon launches #AmazonCart, a new way to shop without leaving Twitter
Top Image Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images
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