BWI: TiE50 Selects PlaySpan as Award Winner at TiECon2009 Conference

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: PlaySpan India Pvt Ltd
Saturday, May 16, 2009 02:50 PM IST (09:20 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Banking & financial services, Information technology; Technology
Release no: 19959
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TiE50 Selects PlaySpan as Award Winner at TiECon2009 Conference
Monetization Solutions Leader Selected as Top 50 Start-Up from More than 1,200 Nominees

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Saturday, May 16, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- PlaySpanT, the leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, today announced that the company has been awarded a TiE50 Winner, a leader in innovation, ingenuity, and management excellence. The TiE50 award is presented by TiE at TiECon2009 to the top 50 start-ups from close to 1,200 nominees.

TiE is a global organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurs across its international network sponsored by top venture capital firms and Fortune 500 corporations. TiE is spread across 53 chapters in 12 countries comprising of 1,800 experienced entrepreneurs and business executives as charter members, 12,000 aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals as members.

"All of this year's winners embraced TiE's message of the bold entrepreneur," said Mateen Syed, TiE50 Chair. "The judges were impressed by the quality of ideas and execution across each vertical segment. These fifty companies represent the finest in entrepreneurship and serve as role models, encouraging and inspiring emerging start-ups to succeed as Bold Entrepreneurs stimulating the economy."

"It's an honor to be recognized as a winner in TiE50's Consumer Web segment with so many deserving companies in the running," said Karl Mehta, Founder & CEO of PlaySpan, Inc. "PlaySpan is in a very solid position as the global leader in monetization solutions, which has become a very hot space for thousands of virtual worlds, social networks, and online games developers and publishers seeking to provide alternative payment options to consumers and add incremental revenue streams to their products."

PlaySpan's patent-pending in-game virtual goods commerce and micropayment platform enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users, and extend the loyalty of existing users. PlaySpan also offers global payment solutions through its subsidiary PayByCash® with 80 payment methods in 180 countries and ULTIMATE GAME CARD® available for 300 games in over 27,000 retail locations across North America and thousands more in several key markets worldwide.

TiECon2009 and TiE50

TiEcon 2009 is two action-packed days of rich dialogue, networking and deal making with thousands of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, industry executives, and thought leaders. TiEcon 2009 is themed "The BOLD Entrepreneur", focusing on dynamic individuals who are able to adapt to changing conditions and create their own future despite downturns and uncertainties.

TiE50 winners are diverse in terms of size, progress, maturity and location. They share a common thread of innovation, ingenuity, strong management teams and overall quality of ideas.

The TiE 50 judging process was designed with meticulous planning, screening and judging by a list of over forty prominent entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporate executives and other domain experts. TiE is also pleased to acknowledge the nominee companies and those who publicly voted from around the world who contributed to the TiE50 selection process.

TiE50 winners presented their companies in a live showcase over the two days of TiEcon 2009, on May 15th and 16th in Santa Clara, CA.

About TiE50

The TiE50 award is presented by TiE, a global, not-for-profit, non-political, and nonreligious organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurs across its international network sponsored by top venture capital firms and Fortune 500 corporations. TiE is spread across 53 chapters in 12 countries comprising of 1,800 experienced entrepreneurs and business executives as charter members, 12,000 aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals as members.

About TiEcon 2009

TiEcon 2009 is two action-packed days of rich dialogue, networking and deal making with thousands of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, industry executives, and thought leaders. TiEcon 2009 is themed "The BOLD Entrepreneur," focusing on dynamic individuals who are able to adapt to changing conditions and create their own future despite downturns and uncertainties. TiEcon 2009 keynote speakers include Hans Morris, President of Visa Inc., Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit and Reid Hoffman, Founder, Chairman and CEO of LinkedIn.

About PlaySpan, Inc.

PlaySpanT is the leader in monetization solutions for over 1,000 online games, virtual worlds, and social network applications. PlaySpan's patent-pending in-game virtual goods commerce and micropayment platform enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users, and extend the loyalty of existing users.

PlaySpan offers global payment solutions through its subsidiary PayByCash® with 80 payment methods in 180 countries and ULTIMATE GAME CARD® available for 300 games in over 21,000 retail locations across North America and thousands more in several key markets worldwide.

Social network payment solutions are available through Spare Change©. Acquired by PlaySpan in April 2009, Spare Change is the first and leading payments platform designed specifically for social networks. Featured on over 700 applications, across Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, Spare Change empowers developers to successfully monetize their applications through micro payments. The Spare Change platform enables users to make safe, convenient, and friendly one-click purchases through a variety of funding sources.

PlaySpan is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Charlottesville, Virginia, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mumbai. Investors include Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC and Novel TMT Ventures. The company has recently won the 2009 OnHollywood Category Award for Best Gaming Company.

For more information about PlaySpan, visit http://corp.playspan.com/

For more information about Spare Change visit: www.sparechangepayments.com


CONTACT DETAILS
Vinayak Rao, PlaySpan India Pvt Ltd, +91 9820045958, Vinayak.rao@playspan.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, MARKETING, BANKING, IT, TECHNOLOGY

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