LevelUp, the local loyalty and payment app, is getting $12 million to expand the service nationwide. The service, which is an offshoot of location start-up SCVNGR, now has 200,000 users, who are spending $2 million a month with the app. Read more »
LevelUp, a loyalty program that built its own Starbucks-style payment system, is now doing $1 million in transactions a month. It’s growing by marrying payments with loyalty and deals. And it’s showing that there will be more payment options that Google Wallet and Isis. Read more »
With new products from a variety of players like Google and Isis comes a potentially confusing year as the term “mobile wallet” gets thrown around repeatedly. What exactly is the “mobile wallet”? Here are some important definitions for those looking to make a move in the space. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
LevelUp, the daily deal play from location-based service SCVNGR, is making another go of it, this time with a credit-based structure that utilizes a new mobile payment system built by SCVNGR. The service is now expanding beyond Boston and Philadelphia to New York and San Francisco. Read more »
As location-based services grow up, we’re seeing that games are not the appealing part of location and increasingly it seems like start-ups are acknowledging that games are tough to build a business on. Gowalla seemed to acknowledge that by killing its virtual items feature today. Read more »
American Express, a 162-year-old financial services company, is marshaling its vast resources in pretty impressive ways to create what could be one of the strongest offerings in the local commerce space. The company said it’s just getting started with partnerships with Facebook, Foursquare and SCVNGR. Read more »
Alexander the Great set his own warships ablaze just to send the message there was no turning back. Two thousand years later, SCVNGR founder Seth Priebatsch doesn’t want to take over the world — he just wants to “build game layers” on top of it. Read more »
SCVNGR is applying game mechanics and a new business model to daily deals in an attempt to strengthen the relationship between merchants and their customers. With LevelUp, merchants offer a series of three deals to consumers, who unlock each one as they try out a business. Read more »
Location is still an acquired taste for a lot of consumers. But the power of location and its ability to bridge the online and the offline worlds are increasingly being realized by start-ups like SCVNGR, which has found success building a game layer over the world. Read more »
SCVNGR, a location-based gaming start-up, has announced it has raised $15 million based on a $100 million valuation. The funding from European venture capital firm Balderton Capital includes support from previous investors Google Ventures and Highland Capital Partners and brings SCVNGR’s total to $20 million. Read more »
Can a game really be the killer app that brings converts and revenue for location based services or is that a 22-year-old’s pipe dream? Seth Priebatsch, the founder and “Chief Ninja” at SCVNGR said it’s why his startup is on pace to hit 1 million users. Read more »
SCVNGR, a location-based gaming service, has tallied 500,000 users since rolling out consumer apps in May. Now the service is relaunching its iPhone and Android apps, with improvements aimed at heightening the game play and social aspects of its service. Read more »
Location-based shopping services (LBS) have made many headlines recently, and studies have shown that users actually like receiving ads and offers well-targeted to their interests. Couple that with an influx of Tier 1 venture capital and the show-stopping Facebook Places, with which several startups have already joined forces, and it’s no wonder LBS is suddenly such a hot topic in the mobile sector. That doesn’t necessarily mean LBS shopping apps will be easy to implement. A number of challenges — privacy concerns, scaling issues and check-in integrity among them — provide a potential barrier to widespread adoption. This note examines both the drivers and inhibitors for making location-based shopping services a mainstream phenomenon, and includes focused profiles of Facebook, Twitter, Google, Loopt, Foursquare, BrightKite, Whrrl, Gowalla, Plancast, Groupon, AisleBuyer, Bizness Apps, Offeretti, ShopAlerts, Shopkick, Bakodo, Stickybits, Yelp!, Geodelic Sherpa, WHERE, MyTown, InCrowd, SCVNGR, Waze and Layar. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The startup SCVNGR is getting one step closer to creating a game layer on top of the world. Tonight it is releasing applications for iPhone and Android that allow users to build geo-targeted challenges for each other to play, just as its customers already do. Read more »
