BitPass Expands Micropayment Functions with Yaga Acquisition

BitPass Inc. has acquired rival micropayments processor Yaga Inc. in a deal that hands the Menlo, Calif.-based BitPass technology to support subscription and payment-aggregation models. The acquisition agreement, terms of which were not released, calls for BitPass to take over Yaga's platform, intellectual property, and client contracts. Staff at San Francisco-based Yaga will join BitPass. Yaga, which has specialized since its startup in 2000 on supporting payment, fulfillment, and merchandising for content such as news articles and feature stories for media companies, includes among its clients United Media, Ziff Davis Media Inc., Time Inc. and CanWest Global Communications Corp. BitPass processes stored-value payments–mostly for digital content priced under $5–for some 3,000 sellers, including Microsoft Corp. and The Walt Disney Co. The move positions BitPass, which introduced its commercial service only two years ago, to compete in the market for content sales supported by user subscriptions and adds capabilities in rewards-based marketing. It follows the processor's agreement late last year to process payments for Microsoft's MSN portals worldwide, starting with ninemsn.com, its site in Australia (Digital Transactions News, Dec. 13). The company, founded in 2002, has increased its base of digital-content sellers by more than 50% in the past year. It has received funding from a wide range of investors including processing giant First Data Corp.