It has officially been announced via a press release by Thunes on Tuesday 23rd April that Thunes, a global cross-border payments company is proud that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tillia LLC, an all-in-one payments platform by Linden Lab. It is still currently awaiting regulatory approval. There has been alot of buzz and questions via the Second Life forums during the past 24 hours.
Following regulatory approval Tilia will be re-branded Thunes and will continue to be based in San Francisco. The agreement is subject to an 5 year collaboration where Thunes will provide payment processing and payouts to Linden Lab.
Floris de Kort, CEO of Thunes, says, “The acquisition of Tilia demonstrates our ambition in the United States. This investment will enable us to leverage Tilia’s capabilities to provide merchants with direct money movement solutions in and out of the United States. Furthermore, Tilia’s deep expertise in online gaming, virtual worlds and token-based payments will greatly accelerate our growth into that fast-growing, exciting industry.”
Brad Oberwager, CEO of Linden Lab, says, “Thunes is an exceptional company that directly connects nearly every payment method and market worldwide. The combination of Tilia and Thunes will give Linden Lab’s customers more payment choices, and the ability to receive pay-outs in real time, anywhere, into the wallet or bank account of their choice. It will be business as usual for our people and our customers as we bring Tilia and Thunes together.”
It will be interesting to see what this new acquisition will bring in the months and years ahead. See the latest discussion here on the Second Life forums.
The lab had said this on 23rd April 2024 “This is good news for Second Life residents and creators. More options without additional costs. We are having an open meeting on May 20 and can discuss in detail.“
Daniel Voyager 