Badgeville creates reward systems that make web sites more engaging for users. Since unveiling its business in October, the company has rounded up 25 well-known customers, who have a combined 2 billion monthly page views.
Among the customers are Major League Gaming, Active.com, and India Games. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Badgeville has created a white label platform that allows its customers to offer rewards to their most loyal and social users. This business is squarely focused on “gamification,” or the use of game-like features in non-game applications. Kris Duggan, chief executive of Badgeville, is one of many speakers at the first Gamification Summit today in San Francisco.
The popularity of Badgeville is a testament to the changing face of online loyalty programs, which are becoming less like boring frequent-flyer programs and more like actual games. Gamification helps improve engagement, or the amount of time people spend on sites. Duggan said the company is working with customers in entertainment, publishing, retail, education, health, fitness and finance.
Badgeville exploits techniques from social gaming, social media, and loyalty programs. It offers analytics tools to sift through data related to engagement. Customers decide what kind of behavior they want to track and reward. Rewards can be virtual, tangible, or a mixture of both.
The company has 20 employees and raised $2.5 million in November. Badgeville was founded in 2010. Rivals include BigDoor and Bunchball. Investors include Eldorado Ventures, Trinity Ventures and angels including Maynard Web, Joe Lonsdale, Pejman Nozad, Zain Khan, and others.