While the deal totals $30M, neither party has disclosed the breakdown of stock and cash that will be changing hands. American Express will integrate Sometrics into the Serve platform to expand its virtual currency and loyalty program offerings. Sometrics’ in-game platform powers virtual currency transactions for game publishers, but the firm also sends targeted deals to users based on several criteria.
Amex is making a concentrated effort to increase the network’s share of mobile and social payments, having fallen behind network rival Visa and tech juggernauts Google and Microsoft. Earlier this month American Express announced plans to open an office in Silicon Valley with the hopes of building relationships with local tech startups and their venture capitalists. Since unveiling Serve in March, the network-issuer has signed partnerships with Verizon Wireless, Facebook, FourSquare, and Zynga.
Moving to the west coast should heat up competition with San Francisco-based Visa, who also seems determined to dominate the mobile payments space. The network recently acquired the virtual payments platform PlaySpan and the mobile payments firm Fundamo.
Read more at: http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/20/american-express-buys-virtual-currency-monetization-platform-sometrics-for-30m/
