TwoFish

Established in 2006 with venture backing from Venrock and Rustic Canyon Partners, Twofish carved out a niche by providing economic solutions tailored for the online entertainment and gaming industries. The company developed data platforms to manage virtual economies within these markets.

The core of its offering was Twofish Elements, an integrated, end-to-end platform designed for its partners. This product bundled financial management, supply chain and inventory management, and advanced analytics into a single package. Specific features included a banking-grade account management service, robust multicurrency administration and exchange capabilities, an item-based asset lifecycle management system, a flexible offers and listing service, and a macroeconomic policy dashboard.

Twofish's business model focused on monetizing and analyzing virtual economies, serving both large companies like Sony Online Entertainment and smaller, independent social gaming app developers. The company provided not only its application toolkit but also offered architecture, support, and risk management services. In August 2009, Twofish was acquired by Live Gamer, a competitor in the in-game payments and analytics market, in a cash and stock deal. This strategic acquisition allowed Live Gamer to integrate Twofish's suite of social media-centric payment and analytics tools, thereby expanding its reach to a broader range of developers.

Keywords: virtual economy, online entertainment, gaming economics, in-game payments, virtual currency, supply chain management, advanced analytics, asset lifecycle management, multicurrency exchange, macroeconomic dashboard, social gaming, risk management, data platforms, Twofish Elements, Live Gamer, Venrock, Rustic Canyon Partners.