San Francisco-based credit card giant Visa Inc. announced it will be acquiring PlaySpan Inc., a mobile payment company that enables the purchase of digital goods in the online space. The transaction will cost Visa approximately $190 million in cash with additional consideration for performance milestones.

PlaySpan, a Silicon Valley start-up backed by several venture funds, provides online merchants with tools to monetize their digital content such as in-game credits, premium memberships and digital goods. 

Visa is looking to use PlaySpan’s technology to expand its services into the growing ecommerce and mobile payments markets. Last April, Visa purchased CyberSource Inc. for $2 billion. CyberSource is a payment processor that specializes in handling online transactions.

The sale is expected to be finalized in the second quarter of 2011.