TrialPay

TrialPay is a company.

Active

Updated: Dec 10, 2025 ·

Recent News & Mentions

Jan 1, 2012FundingTrialPay - Series C Jan 1, 2008FundingTrialPay - Series B Feb 1, 2007FundingTrialPay - Series A

Financial History

TrialPay has raised $56.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $40.0M Series C in January 2012.

Total Raised

$56.0M

Valuation

N/A

Funding Rounds Raised

Date	Round	Other Investors
Jan 1, 2012	$40.0M Series C	Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Benchmark, Betaworks Ventures, Coatue, DFJ, Episode 1 Ventures, Flex Capital, G2VP, General Catalyst, Goodwater Capital, Greylock, Index Ventures, IVP, Luv Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, NEO, Glenn Solomon, Pelion Venture Partners, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Samsung NEXT Ventures, Section 32, Seven Seven Six, SLVC, Social Starts, SV Angel, Transmedia Capital, UP.Partners, Zetta Venture Partners, Anthony Saleh, Bernard Arnault, Hadi Partovi, James Hong, Jeff Bezos, John Pestana, Marc Benioff, Mike Sego
Jan 1, 2008	$13.0M Series B	Battery Ventures, Episode 1 Ventures, Flex Capital, Goodwater Capital, Index Ventures, NEO, Social Starts, Bernard Arnault, Hadi Partovi, James Hong, Mike Sego
Feb 1, 2007	$3.0M Series A	Battery Ventures, Episode 1 Ventures, Flex Capital, Goodwater Capital, Index Ventures, NEO, Social Starts, Bernard Arnault, Hadi Partovi, James Hong, Mike Sego

Financial History

TrialPay has raised $56.0M across 3 funding rounds.

Total Raised

$56.0M

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at TrialPay.

Clint Smith

VP, General Counsel, & Corporate Secretary

Leadership Team

Key people at TrialPay.

Clint Smith

VP, General Counsel, & Corporate Secretary

Deep Dive

# TrialPay: High-Level Overview

TrialPay was an alternative e-commerce payment and marketing platform that enabled customers to obtain products for free by trying or purchasing other products from partner advertisers.[5] Founded in 2006, the company created a three-party transaction model where merchants increased sales, advertisers acquired customers on a pay-for-performance basis, and consumers received free or discounted goods.[1][3] The platform evolved from serving downloadable software to dominating social gaming on Facebook, then mobile apps, before being acquired by Visa in 2015 for an undisclosed amount (reported by some sources as approximately $300 million).[1][3][5]

The core innovation was TrialPay's "Get It Free" payment model, which presented shopping customers with targeted advertising offers at checkout—essentially converting exit points into conversion opportunities.[5] Rather than requiring traditional credit card payments, customers could complete a trial signup or purchase from an advertiser to unlock free products. This approach benefited all stakeholders: merchants reduced cart abandonment, advertisers gained qualified customer acquisitions, and consumers obtained products without direct payment.[3]

# Origin Story

Alex Rampell and Terry Angelos co-founded TrialPay in April 2006, meeting serendipitously through Chris Dixon, who had offered both positions at his company.[1] Rampell later became a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, while Angelos rose to SVP of Commerce Solutions at Visa—the company that would eventually acquire their creation.[1][2] A third co-founder, Eddie Lim, also appears in company records.[6]

The founding concept emerged from recognizing how a third party could increase profits for all transaction participants. TrialPay initially targeted downloadable software applications, but the company demonstrated remarkable adaptability as market ecosystems shifted dramatically.[1] The founders navigated multiple technological revolutions—from cloud and web transitions to the explosive growth of social gaming on Facebook and the subsequent mobile revolution—none of which existed when they incorporated in 2006.[2] By 2014, TrialPay had evolved its core offering into a "transactional advertising" platform particularly effective for driving mobile app installs and in-app purchases.[3]

A pivotal moment came when the company, facing slower growth as an eight-year-old enterprise, spun out a new venture called Yub to explore connecting offline shopping with online rewards using credit card data.[1] This separation allowed TrialPay to focus on its core business while Yub operated independently, addressing Silicon Valley's talent retention challenges by offering growth opportunities to key employees.[1]

# Core Differentiators

Three-party transaction model: Unlike traditional payment systems, TrialPay introduced an advertiser into the payment flow, creating value for merchants, advertisers, and consumers simultaneously.[1][3]

Targeted offer placement: The platform strategically presented offers at checkout moments—"exit points"—where customers were most likely to abandon purchases, converting potential lost sales into completed transactions.[5]

Ecosystem adaptability: TrialPay successfully pivoted across multiple market shifts, from downloadable software to social gaming to mobile applications, demonstrating organizational flexibility rare in fintech startups.[1]

Performance-based advertising: Advertisers paid only for actual customer acquisitions, not impressions, creating a measurable ROI model that attracted major brands.[3]

Merchant acquisition focus: Visa's acquisition description emphasized TrialPay's effectiveness at helping merchants "acquire customers, drive traffic, and increase sales by reaching Visa cardholders with targeted offers."[5]

# Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

TrialPay emerged during the early 2000s when alternative payment models were challenging traditional credit card dominance. The company rode three major waves: the downloadable software era, the social gaming explosion on Facebook, and the mobile app revolution.[1] Each transition required fundamental business model adjustments, yet TrialPay's core insight—that advertising and payments could merge—remained constant.

The platform's success in social gaming and mobile demonstrated that consumers would engage with promotional offers as a payment alternative, validating a new category of "transactional advertising."[3] This insight influenced how the broader payments industry thought about customer acquisition and merchant engagement. By 2015, when Visa acquired TrialPay, the payments giant recognized that traditional transaction processing alone was insufficient—merchants needed integrated marketing and customer acquisition tools.[3][5] TrialPay's acquisition represented Visa's strategic pivot toward becoming a comprehensive commerce platform rather than merely a payment processor.

# Quick Take & Future Outlook

TrialPay's journey illustrates a fundamental truth about fintech: the most durable innovations often emerge not from incremental improvements to existing systems, but from recognizing entirely new transaction structures. The company's willingness to cannibalize its own business model—moving from software to gaming to mobile—rather than defend legacy revenue streams enabled survival through multiple technological upheavals.[1]

Today, TrialPay's legacy lives within Visa's Commerce Network, where its technology and philosophy continue shaping how merchants acquire customers and how consumers discover products.[5] The company's core insight—that payments and marketing are inseparable—has become industry orthodoxy. As Visa continues expanding beyond transaction processing into merchant services and customer intelligence, TrialPay's foundational concepts remain relevant to how payments platforms will evolve in an increasingly mobile, data-driven commerce environment.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

How much funding has TrialPay raised?

TrialPay has raised $56.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.

Who are TrialPay's investors?

TrialPay's investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Benchmark, Betaworks Ventures, Coatue, DFJ, Episode 1 Ventures, Flex Capital, G2VP, General Catalyst, Goodwater Capital, Greylock.