What Tilia does

Tilia is a digital payments platform purpose-built for virtual economies, founded in 2019 and spun out of Linden Lab (creator of Second Life) in 2022. The company provides payment processing infrastructure that enables game developers, virtual world operators, mobile application publishers, and NFT providers to handle in-game transactions and convert virtual tokens into fiat currency. Tilia operates as a licensed money transmitter in the United States (NMLS ID: 2450368, held via its successor entity Thunes Financial Services LLC), giving it a regulated foundation for handling compliant digital transactions in a vertical where many general-purpose payment processors are reluctant to underwrite. Its distribution model is API-first, with payment functionality embedded directly into partner platforms serving creators, gamers, and social platforms.

The company's revenue model is transaction-fee based, monetizing a percentage of payment volume flowing through its platform. Tilia's core customers are game and virtual world developers, with secondary segments in social platforms and creator economy platforms that require digital payment infrastructure. Strategic backing came from J.P. Morgan Payments (initial strategic investment in October 2022) and Korean FinTech Dunamu, with cumulative funding of $22 million since the spin-off. Brad Oberwager was appointed CEO in March 2023 to lead the next phase of expansion.

In a subsequent development, Tilia LLC was acquired by Thunes, a global cross-border payments platform, and renamed Thunes Financial Services LLC. Tilia's virtual-economy payment capabilities are now embedded within Thunes' broader global payments network spanning mobile wallets, banks, cards, stablecoins, and BNPL rails. As an independent operating entity under the Tilia brand, the company no longer operates separately.

Name

Tilia

Legal name

Thunes Financial Services LLC

Website

https://tilia.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tilia is a digital payments platform for virtual economies, founded in 2019 and spun out of Linden Lab in 2022. It enables game developers, virtual world operators, and creator platforms to process in-game transactions and convert virtual tokens to fiat via its licensed money transmitter infrastructure. Acquired by Thunes and now operates as Thunes Financial Services LLC.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Payments Infrastructure

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

In-Game Wallets, Stored Value & Virtual Currency Issuance (MPAFAJAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) Enablement (BNPL, wallets, local methods) (FSAMACAE), On/Off-Ramp Providers (Fiat↔Crypto) & Cash-In/Cash-Out Networks (FSADAIAE), Cross-Border Payments & FX for Gaming (MPAEALAH)

Keywords

• Virtual economy payments
• In-game transactions
• Money transmitter services
• Creator monetization
• Digital payment platform

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Payment Processing Services: Tilia generates revenue through payment processing fees for in-game transactions and digital marketplace transactions within virtual economies. The platform handles conversion of virtual tokens to fiat currency.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Tilia provided an all-in-one payment platform for games, virtual world publishers, mobile applications, and NFT providers, enabling in-game transactions and conversion of virtual tokens into fiat currency. It operated as a licensed money transmitter, delivering regulated digital payment infrastructure for creators, gamers, and social platforms operating in virtual economies.

Product overview

Tilia is a payments platform for digital/virtual economies that has been acquired by Thunes and rebranded as Thunes Financial Services LLC. The platform enables game and virtual world developers to handle in-game transactions and convert virtual tokens into fiat currency. It operates as a money transmitter and serves creators, gamers, and social platforms in virtual economies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tilia Payment Platform An all-in-one digital payments platform designed for games, virtual world publishers, mobile applications, and NFT providers. The platform handles in-game transactions and converts virtual tokens into fiat currency, and operates as a licensed money transmitter (NMLS ID: 2450368). Now operating as Thunes Financial Services LLC following acquisition by Thunes.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ThunescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTilia LLC has been renamed Thunes Financial Services LLC and was acquired by Thunes. This represents a significant acquisition where Tilia becomes part of Thunes' global payments network.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Tipalti: Tipalti provides payment automation and mass-payout infrastructure for digital platforms and marketplaces. It shares Tilia's core use case of enabling platforms to pay out creators, suppliers, and partners at scale across borders.
• Payoneer: Payoneer is a cross-border payments platform serving marketplaces, digital platforms, and the creator/freelancer economy. It is comparable to Tilia in serving platform-based creators needing cross-border payouts and currency conversion.
• Xsolla: Xsolla is a global commerce platform built specifically for video games, providing payment processing, monetization, and virtual economy tools to game publishers. It is the most directly comparable peer to Tilia given the overlapping focus on in-game payments and creator/developer monetization.

Emerging players

• dLocal: dLocal is a payment processor focused on emerging markets, helping global merchants accept and disburse payments in local methods. It is comparable to Tilia where virtual-world and gaming publishers need cross-border, local-payment-method coverage.
• Primer: Primer is a payment orchestration and infrastructure platform that lets merchants unify and route transactions across multiple payment processors. It is an emerging competitor to Tilia at the orchestration layer that sits behind platform and gaming payments.

Broad incumbents

• Adyen: Adyen is a global payment platform serving large enterprises, including digital and gaming platforms, with unified online/mobile/in-store processing. It overlaps with Tilia's platform-payment capabilities but operates as a broad incumbent rather than a virtual-economy specialist.
• Stripe: Stripe (including Stripe Connect and Stripe Treasury) provides payment processing and marketplace/creator payout infrastructure. It competes with Tilia at the platform-payments layer but as part of a much broader payments suite rather than as a gaming-virtual-economy specialist.
• Worldpay (FIS): Worldpay, part of FIS, processes payments for global gaming and digital goods merchants. It is a broad incumbent overlapping with Tilia on gaming and digital content payment processing.
• Hyperwallet (PayPal): Hyperwallet, owned by PayPal, is a mass-payout platform serving marketplaces, gig platforms, and creator economies. It overlaps with Tilia's payout and marketplace payment functionality but operates as part of a much larger PayPal portfolio rather than a gaming specialist.
• PayPal: PayPal is a global digital payments incumbent serving consumers, merchants, and platforms, including gaming and digital goods. It is comparable to Tilia as a broad incumbent covering platform payouts and digital-goods payment flows.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tilia