// startup autopsy

play140

Gaming in 140 characters — a novelty that ran out of runway

platform dependencyAcqui-hire

Fatal mistake: Built the entire product experience on Twitter's platform, creating total dependency on a third-party API with no control over distribution or monetization.

Founded	2009
Closed	2011
Country	USA
Sector	Gaming

50%

Key Events Timeline

2009-01-01

FOUNDING

play140 founded in the USA to create social word games built natively on the Twitter platform.

2010-01-01

FUNDING

play140 raises $0.5M in seed funding to expand its Twitter-based gaming products.

2010-06-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Company launches multiple Twitter-native word games, gaining initial press coverage but struggling to convert novelty into retention.

2011-03-01

SHUTDOWN

play140 is acquired in an acqui-hire deal as Twitter gaming novelty wanes and the startup exhausts its funding.

Full Analysis

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Documented cause

play140 built Twitter-based word games during the early social media gaming wave, capitalizing on the trend of casual gaming integrated with social platforms. The startup raised only $0.5M in funding, which pro...

ved insufficient to sustain operations and develop a diversified product portfolio. A critical vulnerability in play140's business model was its heavy dependency on Twitter's API for core functionalit

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€1.3M

Peak valuation

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

play140 raised €0.5M before built the entire product experience on twitter's platform, creating total dependency on a third-party api with no control over distribution or monetization. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

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Key Events Timeline

Documented cause

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