First Acquisition in the Gamification Space: BigDoor Buys OneTrueFan

The gamification space is continuing to heat up. We’ve already seen innovative campaigns, great client growth, and large rounds of funding, but today, BigDoor is announcing the first acquisition in the space in a partnership with OneTrueFan. OneTrueFan is a service for web publishers that enables visitors to earn points for their online activity and compete to become a site’s biggest fan. Visitors also earn badges for interacting with and sharing content on the sites they visit, which makes its product offering nicely aligned with BigDoor’s leadership in gamification and the engagement economy.

Keith Smith, Co-founder and CEO of BigDoor, described the acquisition, “BigDoor and OneTrueFan share the vision of making the world more rewarding through social engagement and loyalty programs. OneTrueFan has created an outstanding technology that complements BigDoor’s next generation gamification, rewards and social loyalty programs, and immediately expands BigDoor’s reach.”

OneTrueFan is located in San Francisco and launched at TechCrunch Disrupt 2010. Its founders, Eric Marcoullier and Todd Sampson, have been friends since fifth grade and they previously collaborated in the creation of IGN.com, MyBlogLog, and social data provider Gnip.

In addition to OneTrueFan’s team, BigDoor also gains an office in San Francisco and a new turnkey rewards program targeted to small and medium size web publishers. This will be integrated into BigDoor’s developing rewards program.

In the past few months, BigDoor rivals Bunchball and Badgeville have announced large rounds of funding. BigDoor most recently raised $5M in Series B from chief investor Foundry Group. We are proud to have BigDoor as a sponsor for our upcoming Gamification Summit in New York. This new acquisition signals that the gamification space continues to develop and mature, and the real progress continues to be seen in excellent projects in gamification.

Gamification Co will be hosting it’s second Gamification Summit in New York on September 15-16. Join keynotes from Gilt Groupe CEO Alexandra Wilkis Wilson and 42 Entertainment’s founder, Susan Bonds, to learn how the new science of engagement is rewriting the rules of product design. We are also offering the first ever Certificate in Gamification. For Gamification Blog readers, use discount code GCOBLOG for 25% off at http://gsummit.com/register. We look forward to seeing you there!