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Sometrics develops comprehensive solutions for in-game payments and revenue optimization within the free-to-play online gaming sector. The company's core product assists publishers in effectively marketing their games and monetizing virtual currencies. It integrates directly into gaming platforms, providing tools to manage transactions and enhance profitability through its specialized approach to digital economies.
The company was founded in 2007 by Ian Swanson, Joseph Hsieh, and Matt Gray. Their collective insight identified a critical need within the nascent free-to-play gaming industry: a dedicated platform to manage and optimize virtual currency transactions. This understanding of emerging digital monetization trends formed the bedrock of Sometrics' initial development and growth.
Publishers of online games constitute Sometrics' primary customer base, leveraging its platform to streamline their monetization efforts and expand their player engagement. The company’s long-term vision focuses on continually refining revenue generation for the free-to-play ecosystem, enabling content creators to maximize value from their virtual offerings and sustain vibrant online communities.
Sometrics has raised $6.0M across 2 funding rounds.
Sometrics has raised $6.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Sometrics has raised $6.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Sometrics's investors include Amplify.LA.
Sometrics was a technology company that built a web platform enabling gaming publishers to market free-to-play online games and monetize virtual currencies through consumer destination sites and in-game payment solutions.[1][3][4] It served game developers and publishers like Nexon, NHN USA, IMVU, PopCap, BigPoint, and Habbo, solving the challenge of processing virtual currency transactions, offering targeted ads based on user data, and optimizing revenue via analytics—delivering an average 15% revenue lift for partners and supporting over 3.3 trillion units of virtual currency across 200+ countries.[1] The platform included GameCoins.com for discovering games and converting currencies, including into Facebook Credits, with dozens of payment options like carrier billing and credit cards.[1]
Founded in 2007, Sometrics emerged as a pioneer in virtual currency monetization for social and online gaming, processing massive transaction volumes early on.[1] Led by CEO Ian Swanson, who described the company as "pioneers in mining social intelligence," it quickly gained traction with major gaming partners and built analytics tools to optimize payments based on demographics and conversions.[1][2] By 2011, its global reach hit 225 million consumers, setting the stage for acquisition.[1]
Sometrics rode the early 2010s explosion of free-to-play social gaming and virtual economies, capitalizing on the shift from paid downloads to in-game monetization amid rising mobile and web gaming.[1] Its timing aligned with platforms like Facebook Games and the need for seamless payments in emerging markets, where carrier billing bridged unbanked users—market forces amplified by social media's growth and ad-driven revenue models.[1][2][4] By enabling publishers to monetize at scale, it influenced the ecosystem, paving the way for modern app stores and in-app purchases while boosting American Express's push into digital gaming payments post-acquisition.[1]
Acquired by American Express in 2011 for $30 million, Sometrics integrated into the Serve platform to enhance virtual currency and loyalty features, effectively concluding its independent run as a standalone innovator.[1] Looking back, it exemplified early fintech-gaming convergence; today, its legacy endures in evolved systems like app store billing and Web3 tokens. As gaming monetization shifts toward blockchain and subscriptions, Sometrics' foundational tools remind us how solving payment friction unlocked trillion-scale virtual economies—much like it did from a scrappy 2007 startup to enterprise asset.[1]
Sometrics has raised $6.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $4.0M Series B in October 2009.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2009 | $4.0M Series B | Amplify.LA | |
| May 1, 2008 | $2.0M Series A | Amplify.LA |