This week, the Play2Pay™ team raised $13 million in a Series A round of funding. Both a long-time client and friend, CEO Brian Boroff started this journey in 2015 to give consumers a way to reduce the cost of their phone bills by playing games, completing activities and surveys, watching videos, and more.
Their mission is simple. They want to convert user engagement into payment in a way that’s fun and interactive. We are beyond excited for the entire Play2Pay™ team on the next step (and quite a big step, for that matter!) in their journey, and are proud of what they are doing for millions of people all over the world.
Play2Pay™ Featured on TechCrunch for Their Achievement
Just today, Play2Pay™’s achievement was featured on TechCrunch, an online newspaper focused on sharing stories of tech startups and companies.
TechCrunch highlighted the Play2Pay™ story, dating back to 2015 where they spent several years as the startup Adfone, their previous name. The company believed that people should have a new way to pay their mobile phone bills. Since 2015, they have been working hard to execute on that belief. It wasn’t until last year that they received any external funding, which was a $7.5 million Series A round that involved multiple angel investors.
Boroff best describes the quickly growing platform as a “value exchange” between brands and consumers. People who look to lower the cost of their bills can earn points by participating in brand-sponsored activities, video offers, and surveys. They can redeem these points to help pay for their phone bill. Not only is this great for anyone who needs to lower the costs of their bills, but it offers an amazing and effective way for companies to reach and engage with a whole new consumer base.
Now, they position themselves as the first and best way to convert user engagement into phone bill payment. And many people would agree! To the 100+ million people who have access to this platform on their mobile device (through several telecom company partnerships globally), they see it as a perfect way to reduce their phone bills.
Here are some statistics on the company’s success thus far:
- On average, users see a 30% decrease in the cost of their phone bills when using the Play2Pay™ platform.
- From June 2020 to June 2021, Play2Pay™ saw nearly a 300% spike in annual recurring revenue.
- About 25% of users generated revenue daily.
- Because of daily user engagement, service providers saw up to 17% increase in revenue.
The best part for service providers is that they don’t have to pay for the platform. So how does Play2Pay™ make money? Through app developers and brands. These brands will pay Play2Pay™ to have access to their platform so they can promote their products and services. There are multiple possible ways that these promotions could work. The example TechCrunch used was a mobile gaming company who will pay Play2Pay™ a fee for every user that downloads their app and plays their game for a certain amount of time. Play2Pay™’s attribution tracking allows them to measure these statistics effectively, and ensure that the brands who pay to be on the platform are reaching their goals. When they do, everyone is happy!
We are extremely excited to see that Play2Pay™ is having a lot of success, and that their success is being recognized. They have an extremely bright future, and we are fortunate to have been a part of it!
Sending a message with a strong brand
So, what made the difference for them? What was that barrier that needed to be overcome in order to receive external funding and take the company to the next level? That’s where we stepped in.
Six years ago, Brian Boroff and his team came to us with just an idea to help people reduce the cost of their service provider bills in an interactive and engaging way. We branded this idea as Adfone, and the company operated under this name and with only internal funding until the latter part of 2020. In that time, they were able to partner with Cricket Wireless and develop an app that’d be pre-installed on all Cricket Wireless phones.
Last year, they decided to take their platform to the next level. We worked closely with their team to redefine their brand to be more centered on their identity. “The Play2Pay™ brand was crafted to be more gamified and fun while still maintaining a professionalism that could translate within B2B settings,” said Leah Freeman, Senior Art Director at OGK. They needed a brand that could be relatable to other business professionals, but still maintain that level of engagement and excitement that they started this whole journey with.
Making the best first impression
A brand is a company’s first impression. It’s the elevator pitch before the elevator pitch. If they don’t show their voice and their purpose for the brand, it makes it extremely difficult to grow the business or gain the trust of their audience. In this case, the audiences are the investors, the brands and app developers who use this service, and the service providers they partner with. Since we created the Adfone brand, the company has expanded their offerings, services, and business model. It required a different approach that would allow them to be more successful within their new target audiences and with their updated product.
We understood the task at hand, and partnered with their team to create this brand with a new voice and more defined purpose. Boroff and his team needed their new brand as well as investor deck materials delivered in one month. As always, we were up for the challenge!
The 60-some page investor deck was on-brand, delivered the right messages, and was catered to their target audiences so the now-Play2Pay™ team could raise capital and continue their journey. The deck included projection charts, graphs, and content in a way that is easily digestible and makes sense, while also driving home key points. Because of their new brand, and the new direction we took with a more gamified brand message, they were able to secure $13 million in funding and continue to grow their service partnerships to include multiple “tier-1 service providers.”
Today, they are a well-funded and widely used “ad supported payment rail”, and have partnerships with Cricket Wireless in the US, Unefon in Mexico, TIM Brasil, Lycamobile in the UK, and Indosat Ooredoo in Indonesia.
Partnering with OGK to elevate your brand
Having a strong brand and the right tools are key to taking a growing business to the next level. The Play2Pay™ team recognized that and partnered with OGK to help them on their journey, and we are more than proud of the results.
If you are ready to take the next step, reach out to us today. We can’t wait to get started!