Twitter builds commerce model with CardSpring buy

Social network Twitter has acquired payments infrastructure firm CardSpring for an undisclosed sum. The San Francisco-based startup develops a web service API that makes it easy for payment companies and point-of-sale vendors to work with developers to create card-linked services.

The company’s most recent product, CardSpring Connect, aims to bring the power of mobile and internet performance marketing and analytics tools to local merchants’ existing POS and create online-to-offline promotions that drive new customers, repeat business, and greater spend.

“We started CardSpring with a vision to develop a new type of platform that enables digital publishers and retailers to work with the payment industry to create a new generation of commerce experiences for hundreds of millions of offline shoppers,” the company said on its blog. “We see the intersection of payments and digital media as an opportunity to revolutionize how consumers use credit and debit cards, while helping retailers to connect and communicate with their offline shoppers – much in the same way the Internet has enabled online stores to create relationships with their online customers.”

CardSpring is currently funded by venture capitalists Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

“As we work on the future of commerce on Twitter, we’re confident the CardSpring team and the technology they’ve built are a great fit with our philosophy regarding the best ways to bring in-the-moment commerce experiences to our users,” said Twitter on the deal.