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12 Year Old Gets $6.5M for Gaming Company

Posted by samzenpus on from the that's-a-lot-of-candy dept.

Bayscribe writes "A Silicon Valley company co-founded by a 12-year-old has just raised $6.5 million in venture capital. PlaySpan, based in Santa Clara, Calif. says it offers game publishers a technology that lets users make payments and shop for other items. It calls itself the first "publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network." Arjun Mehta, a 6th grader, says on his Web site that he is passionate about software that can make the game experience more "rewarding," and that he started the company last year in his garage. He paid for it from earnings made from selling online game items he won."

25 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. bubble 2.0 by wwmedia · · Score: 5, Funny

    i smell another dot com bubble bursting

    1. Re:bubble 2.0 by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

      *sniff* Oh, ok. I already thought someone had something reeeeally bad for lunch.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:bubble 2.0 by Otter · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nonsense! The OLPC people have explained very clearly how software they don't have time to implement themselves will be written for them by kids who have never seen a light bulb before.

      --
      What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
    3. Re:bubble 2.0 by alienzed · · Score: 2, Funny

      Unless he finally managed to get rid of that flashing 12:00. It takes a genius to figure those V.C.R.'s out.

      --
      Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
    4. Re:bubble 2.0 by plurgid · · Score: 2, Funny

      Two Words: Awesome Express

  2. His future plans by CRCulver · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the article:

    Mehta said that he now intended to drop out of the sixth grade. "School is great, but now that I've got a multi-million dollar company, I need to concentrate on that. After all, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did it. Sixth grade will still be there waiting for me in a few years. Now excuse me while I ask my mom to drive me in my new Ferrari to the mall."

    1. Re:His future plans by FinchWorld · · Score: 4, Funny
      Now excuse me while I ask my mom to drive me in my new Ferrari to the mall.

      Finally! A Slashdot story we can all relate to!

      --
      "I may be full of crap about this game, and I may be wrong, and that's fine." -Jack Thompson
    2. Re:His future plans by value_added · · Score: 4, Funny
      Finally! A Slashdot story we can all relate to!

      Even better ...

      he started the company last year in his garage. He paid for it from earnings made from selling online game items he won."
      Dunno about you, but I've always dreamed of moving out of the basement and buying my own garage.

      Aren't dangling participles fun? ;-)
    3. Re:His future plans by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Funny

      *whoosh*

    4. Re:His future plans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      So it seems he and I have something in common.

    5. Re:His future plans by RasputinAXP · · Score: 1, Funny

      I always thought it was more of a Doppler-effect "neeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEOWWWWWWWWWWWWWwwwwww" sound.

    6. Re:His future plans by Cheerio+Boy · · Score: 3, Funny

      I could only dream of a basement, I lived in the corridor! You had it lucky! Corridor!? You had it lucky! I used to live in the tape spool of a PDP-7! Half the day going 'round one way then half the day going 'round the other way....was enough to make me sick to my stomach all the time! And I _still_ had to do my sysadmin work!
      --

      "Bah!" - Dogbert
  3. riight. by apodyopsis · · Score: 5, Funny

    dupe or not - that kid has just got to be an insufferable, annoying little snot.

    a bit like "doogie howser MD" only real, remember that?

    1. Re:riight. by cowboy76Spain · · Score: 3, Funny

      Until and unless you meet the kid, your assumptions about his character are nothing but projections of your jealousy. ... Now the VC, on the other hand, is probably out of his mind.

      Have you met the venture capitalists?

      --
      Why can't /. have a rich-text editor? Editing your own HTML is so XXth century.
    2. Re:riight. by navygeek · · Score: 2, Funny

      I could care less how brilliant he is.
      So you do, in fact, care how brilliant he is, yes?
  4. Re:dupe by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not only is this story almost certainly a dupe, it's also over 4 months old.

    In other words, could someone check whether that company still exists?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Kids today grow up so fast by Nymz · · Score: 5, Funny

    This one turned 13 before I got to the article.

  6. I wonder... by farkus888 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder if this is what my mom thought I could have been doing with my time when she kept yelling at me for wasting all my time touching myself when I was 12?

    I'll have to ask her sometime.

    --
    thats right, I rarely use capitals. deal with it. but don't mistake my laziness for stupidity
    1. Re:I wonder... by jollyreaper · · Score: 2, Funny

      I wonder if this is what my mom thought I could have been doing with my time when she kept yelling at me for wasting all my time touching myself when I was 12?

      I'll have to ask her sometime. All I have to say is "thank God there weren't webcams back then." Ah, yes, that creepy line between capitalism and child abuse.
      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
  7. Re:Incorrect linkage by ThirdPrize · · Score: 5, Funny

    If the editors don't even RTFAs before posting them, why shoud we? ;)

    --
    I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
  8. Hmm. Isn't this already patented? by someone1234 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The chinese gold farmers do this since years, isn't there already a patent for this business method?

    --
    Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
  9. Re:dupe by troc · · Score: 2, Funny

    I remember when this was all fields..... :)

    --
    Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
  10. Re:dupe by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 2, Funny

    Fields? Huh. I remember when this was all molten rock and hadn't even finished cooling yet! Now you kids get off of my lawn!

    --
    My blog
  11. Re:dupe by Puff+of+Logic · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fields? Huh. I remember when this was all molten rock and hadn't even finished cooling yet! Now you kids get off of my lawn!
    Molten rock? Luxury! We used to have to bring our own interstellar dust in a bucket and hope that we could pile up enough to have it hold together under its own gravity!
    --
    P.P.S. I'm doing Science and I'm still alive.
  12. I wish ... by xednieht · · Score: 2, Funny

    my kid would find a generous VC to suck money out of instead of always emptying my wallet.

    --

    Hope is the currency of fools