Online payment service provider PayPal has acquired Iron Pearl, a startup created to virally spread information over the internet, especially through Facebook and Twitter.
According to PayPal president David Marcus, the inclusion of Iron Pearl will revive stunted growth witnessed over the recent past, Reuters reported.
PayPal said bringing on board the growth hackers Stan Chudnovsky and James Currier would help expand online payments more quickly to its 120 million users around the world.
Chudnovsky will now be the new vice president of growth at PayPal while his co-hacker Currier will be growth adviser, both reporting directly to Marcus.
Before owning Iron Pearl the two had started another viral marketing company, Tickle, which was acquired by Monster in 2004 for US$100 million.
Chudnovsky is also the brain behind online growth strategies for a number of upcoming startups including GoodReads, Path and BranchOut.
The value of the acquisition was not disclosed by eBay Inc, which owns PayPal.
Growth hacking is a new niche in the business world and has been used by the likes of Facebook to facilitate rapid expansion through a known hacker Chamath Palihapitiya.
“It’s time for PayPal to take this very seriously. This is a key function of any growth company,” said Marcus.
Other technology companies that heavily rely on growth hackers include Linkedin and Twitter.
