Jim Plunkett
Auburn, ME (USA)
Role(s):
C-Level Executive (CEO, CFO, etc.)
Plunkett & Company
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Startup
Location:
Auburn
Industry:
Finance
Year Founded:
2008
Number Employees:
1-10 people
Description:
Credit Card companies changed their rules this year to allow municipalities to assess credit card transaction fees back to their citizens for transactions conducted in their offices. It is estimated that over 95% of all municipalities do not accept credit cards in their offices because they can't budget the transaction costs.
MasterCard has estimated this market at over $300 billion in transactions annually of which they are presently capturing less than $3 billion (why they were the first to change their rules).
The economy is fueling this as municipalities are becoming more aggressive in searching for ways to maximize revenues without raising taxes. One way to maximize revenues is to enhance the efficiency of their tax and revenue collection by offering credit card acceptance, which they can now do at no cost. Citizens are also demanding that they be able to have the option to pay with a credit card.
We have IP protected technology, 2 dozen municipalities using a beta product, 4 dozen more municipalities on deck to begin using the product, a production version due out by January 1, a substantial pipeline of business and a team of 7 agents trained working on this.
We are looking for $25,000 - $50,000 to cash flow the last stage of the start-up (we have self funded this for 12 months).