Our friends over at Recurly have raised $6 million in a Series A financing round led by BV Capital, and including Polaris Venture Partners, Harrison Metal Capital and FreeStyle Capital. Recurly is powering billing for over 750 small/medium enterprises, including JibJab, Fox News Radio, Justin.tv, SlideShare, GOOD.is, and Weather Underground. So far the company has raised about $8 Million total. Recurly makes it super easy for businesses of all sizes to offer and manage subscriptions and recurring revenue. Their simple approach allows customer to get setp and running about 5 minutes.

Recurly's system handles tasks like credit card number storage, failed transaction management, renewal management, and customer management. Subscription-based businesses lose a ton of money each month due to credit card transaction failures, Recurly makes it easy to spot these and update information for on time billing and revenue recognition. Like most billing solutions, Recurly supports integration with a number of financial software solutions, including QuickBooks.

Our friends at Recurly, providing SaaS subscription billing, just released their new Recurly Payment Gateway, designed to handle the many challenges presented by recurring billing.  The Recurly Payment Gateway includes premium Retention and Churn reports for each subscription plan to help you understand the retention value of your subscribers over time. And, it is now bundled with the core Recurly service!

Recurly's new API is now available, along with new client libraries and related feature enhancements. Recurly now supports multiple subscriptions per account and you can create coupons, subscription plans and add-ons directly from the API.

Vindicia, a leading provider of SaaS billing solutions that help digital leaders optimize customer retention and acquisition through integrated marketing best practices, today unveiled enhanced pricing capabilities for its CashBox™ SaaS billing solution. The new features enable merchants to build and deliver customized campaigns and to more effectively track and manage the results of those promotions.

As billing continues to move from an operational need to a game-changing marketing asset, businesses and marketing executives are turning to Vindicia CashBox for new and creative ways to market and sell digital goods. Today's release further optimizes its merchants' customer acquisition and retention efforts by supporting periodic promotions and one-time coupons to supplement existing product or service pricing. Merchants are now able to market new offers and maximize their ability to find the appropriate price points, discount levels, and promotions for their specific market.

Vindicia, a leading provider of SaaS billing solutions that help digital leaders optimize customer retention and acquisition through integrated marketing best practices, today announced that it has made this year's Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal's "Fast Private 50" for the third consecutive year. Ranking 20 by the publication, Vindicia was honored at a ceremony last night at the Computer History Museum for its consistent and rapid sales and revenue growth over the last three years.

Vindicia has grown into a leader in its market, with top clients across the successful and growing markets it serves -- from online gaming to software to media/content, and online dating. Many of the world's most recognized names use the Vindicia CashBox™ solution to maximize revenues while optimizing customer support and services. Some of these clients include Cryptic Studios, Peanut Labs, SpeedDate, and Cisco, which are either headquartered or have an office either in or around Silicon Valley.

Vindicia, a leading provider of SaaS billing solutions that help digital leaders optimize customer retention and acquisition through integrated marketing best practices, unveiled new marketing capabilities for its CashBox™ SaaS billing solution. The company launched new dashboard applications to help digital merchants make better business decisions and identify key trends in their customer base. In addition, a new integration feature provides native integration into common email systems, beginning with Responsys' Interact Suite.

The new dashboard and reporting capabilities provide digital merchants with the financial and customer data they need to develop a deeper understanding of their business. The dashboard application gives digital merchants an integrated, unified perspective on their organizations' online business. Providing visualized transaction, revenue, and subscriber data, the dashboard enables digital merchants to understand impacts of different customer acquisition efforts, highlight demographic trends, and generate insights on partner and affiliate profitability.

Two of my favorite areas of the cloud are billing and integration. If you’ve followed my blog and videos, you’d see that I have a fascination with both. It’s the complexity of these applications that draws me in. Billing – probably the most painful and complex part of any cloud business, and Integration – the most important puzzle piece that makes commerce and trade work, are critical components to the cloud eco-system.

Recently I noticed the release of a new cloud-based billing solution from MetraTech called Metanga. If you haven’t heard of MetraTech before, well… they provide billing for organizations like the Chicago O’Hare International Airport and various large enterprises.

Metanga, the first Microsoft Azure-based billing platform is available as Software-as-a-Serivce and manages complex billing processes for companies of all sizes.

Summary

• Zuora, the subscription billing and commerce leader, today announced that Elevate Inc, a premier digital services provider with an array of IP and wireless residential services, is using Zuora's subscription commerce platform to rapidly roll out its innovative subscription services across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
• Elevate offers literally hundreds of configurations of residential services tailored to the needs of each individual residential customer, including broadband service up to 10 mbps; IP-based TV and satellite TV service offered in cooperation with DirecTV™ and DISH Network™; mobile and digital phone services; and a fully integrated suite of home security and automation services.
• Elevate represents the new breed of communications provider, revolutionizing the market by delivering flexible service bundles at lower prices with superior customer service. The key to this strategy is speed and flexibility, and with the Zuora for Communications cloud billing platform, Elevate can execute at a more rapid clip than competitors who are held back by decades old, on-premise technology.

Speed-to-Market and Innovative Services are Key to Unseating Incumbent Communications Service Providers

MetraTech, the leading provider of agreements-based billing and compensation solutions, and Scribe, a global data integration provider, has announced that the two companies are collaborating to connect the Metanga cloud billing application to Microsoft Dynamics CRM and other business applications. This technology partnership delivers faster time to revenue at a fraction of the cost of traditional integration solutions for independent software vendors (ISVs) that create and support cloud-based services.

Using Scribe Online, customers can integrate customer and transactional data between Metanga, MetraTech's multi-tenant, cloud-based billing application, and other online and on-premise business applications. The Scribe Online platform simplifies the implementation and maintenance of integration solutions, and like Metanga, it is built on the Windows Azure platform. Its unique collaborative user experience and ability to support global integrations make it an ideal solution for integrating a broad range of applications quickly and easily.

Partnerships With Verifi, GlobalCollect, Merchant e-Solutions and Moneris Give Zuora Customers Pre-Built Integration for Fraud Protection, Chargeback Prevention, Chargeback Management, and Global Payment Processing

Zuora, the subscription billing and commerce leader, today announced new partnerships with leading payment gateways and service providers to further position Zuora as the leader in subscription payments. The partnerships include Verifi, a provider of SaaS-based payment and risk management solutions; GlobalCollect, the world's premier payment service provider of local e-payments for international Customer Not-Present channels; Merchant e-Solutions, a global leader in payment processing services; and Moneris, one of the largest providers of payment processing solutions across the US and Canada.

Vindicia Widens Online Gaming Market Lead with New Clients Heatwave Interactive and Idea Fabrik

Company’s Revenues from Online Gaming Sector Rise 470%

Ideal Solution for all Genres and Business Models, Vindicia CashBox™ Helps Game Publishers Increase User Adoption and Boost Revenue

E3 Expo LOS ANGELES and BELMONT, Calif. — June 7, 2011 — Vindicia today announced the addition of two new game publishers and developers Heatwave Interactive and Idea Fabrik’s HeroCloud Service to its customer roster, reinforcing its position as the industry’s top provider of subscription and microtransaction billing and eWallet solutions. Since first announcing its leadership in the online gaming market last year, the company has seen its revenue in this sector grow by 470%.

Heatwave Interactive and Idea Fabrik join a long list of successful game publishers – including Mind Candy, Trion, Cryptic Studios, Wicked Interactive and hi5 – which have selected Vindicia CashBox to increase user adoption and boost revenues. Leveraging the company’s expertise in supporting many different business models, from subscriptions to microtransactions to hybrid models, Vindicia’s online gaming clients have maximized revenue through increased customer acquisition and customer retention.

Vindicia will acknowledge its customers’ successes and celebrate its continued sector growth as a sponsor at the F2P Forum reception to be held on Wednesday, June 8th at the Belasco Theater. 

“Vindicia's deep understanding of the gaming market, including the unique requirements of both players and publishers, has been instrumental in helping us to grow and scale seamlessly,” said Garvin Yeung, CEO of Wicked Interactive. “Since selecting CashBox to support our Suba Games portal we’ve seen a direct and dramatic impact on customer attainment and retention.”

“Growth in online gaming has been explosive across all categories and geographies,” said Vindicia Chairman and CEO Gene Hoffman. “Innovative publishers understand that creating a premier game and environment is only the first step. Offering gamers a range of billing options, from subscriptions to F2P, helps position publishers for high rates of customer acquisition and retention.” 

CashBox ensures that publishers are not losing customers to a lack of billing options, broken payments or fraud. Even the smallest increase in customer retention can lead to sizable revenue increases due to the power of Average Customer Lifetime Value (ACLV) in a subscription business model or monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) in a Free-to-Play (F2P) or freemium model.

For further information or to attend the F2P Forum reception at E3, contact Steph Jorgl at 650-264-4700 or sjorgl@vindicia.com. 


About Heatwave Interactive
Heatwave Interactive is a leading global publisher and developer of brand integrated, multi-platform entertainment. Founded in 2007, the Company specializes in high profile, high impact mass market games for PC, mobile, and social platforms. Heatwave has partnered with top celebrities and entertainment brands to provide audiences with engaging games and applications including iSamJackson; CMT Presents Platinum Life: Country, Platinum Life: Web Edition; and Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising. Co-founded by award-winning, game industry veteran Anthony Castoro, Heatwave Interactive is backed by Syncom Venture Partners. For more information, please visit Heatwave's corporate website: www.heatwave.com.

About Idea Fabrik
Idea Fabrik is an industry leading online games company. The company licenses its HeroEngine game development technology platform to dozens of studios worldwide for projects which include EA/Bioware’s upcoming MMO title, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Idea Fabrik also provides the HeroCloud managed service, offering independent developers low-cost access to the HeroEngine technology. For more information about Idea Fabrik, including details about the company’s online game development studios across the globe, visit the official website at http://www.ideafabrik.de.

About Vindicia
Vindicia is a leading provider of SaaS billing solutions that help digital leaders optimize customer retention and acquisition through integrated marketing best practices. Over the past twelve months, Vindicia clients sent $2 billion through its CashBox solution, billed in every global region, and generated $50 million in annual incremental revenue. Our clients include Symantec, TransUnion Interactive, Intuit, Activision Blizzard, Bloomberg, and Next Issue Media. To learn more, please visit www.vindicia.com.