An Irvine Internet startup recently started a Web site dedicated to solving a contemporary consumer problem,the overstuffed wallet.
Not overstuffed with cash, mind you, but rather a wallet full of receipts, gift cards, membership cards, rewards cards and other stuff.
Mark Roberts, 36, and Jennifer Mathe, 33, quit their jobs in 2005 to start Leverage Inc.
The company runs a Web site that helps consumers organize and track their gift cards online.
“I was really frustrated with the total amount of paper and plastic that I was trying to cram into my wallet that was in large part retail oriented,” Roberts said. “We started thinking along the lines of making it a business.”
The original idea was to come up with a way to manage and keep track of gift cards.
“It evolved from there to include things like loyalty programs, general promotions and coupons,” Roberts said.
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Leverage Web site: ties to Nike, Borders, Blockbuster |
The startup has raised about $2 million so far through a combination of fundraising from friends, family and investors.
It’s doing a “rolling” first round of venture financing.
Leverage has about 12 workers and a handful of contractors in Irvine.
The site, www.leveragecard.com, has some interesting features.
For one, it helps cut down on paper clutter when consumers register and track balances on their gift cards.
The site also has a section that works like an e-mail inbox that shows promotions for the stores the user has gift cards or rewards for.
Users also can swap gift cards “virtually” with other members of the site.
Other sites offer similar services, mostly for a fee for each trade. Leverage is free.
The company makes money three different ways.
It resells gift cards it buys at a discount from stores such as Pier 1 Imports Inc., Best Buy Co. and Staples Inc., among other national names.
The company also sells consumer profiles (which don’t include any personal information) to retailers looking to target their advertising.
Leverage can help advertisers send promotions to, say, people who hold gift cards to home improvement stores.
“All of the info we gather about a user over time is very valuable to advertisers,” Roberts said.
The trick is “being able to marry the lead generation and the channel through which you can contact the people,” he said.
The company also works with retailers that can update gift card balances automatically.
As an incentive to purchase and spend gift cards for those retail partners, customers can earn interest on their card balances.
Leverage has teamed up with companies such as AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, Borders Group Inc., Nike Inc. and Blockbuster Inc., among others.
“We are launching with 120 brands on board, which blows me away,” Mathe said. “It’s really hard when you are a startup to be associated with tier-one retailers. We are very proud about what we have been able to do there.”
Mathe was a lawyer at a firm that advised technology startups for about nine years. She and Roberts worked on their idea at nights and on the weekends until they decided to “either fish or cut bait,” Mathe said.
Taking such a risk “isn’t for the faint of heart,” she said.
“We have been freaked out for the past two years thinking that someone else is going to figure this out,” Mathe said. “You have to have a stomach of steel.”
Gateway Cuts
Irvine’s Gateway Inc., now part of Taiwan’s Acer Inc., is set to cut about 60 jobs next month, according to a state Web site.
The cuts are from Gateway’s business selling computers to corporate customers, government agencies and schools, which it sold to Idaho’s MPC Corp. in October for $90 million, according to spokesman David Hallisey.
The company has cut more than 100 jobs this year in a bid to cut costs.
Gateway is in transition as it figures out its new structure under Acer, Chief Executive Ed Coleman said last month.
Venture Funding
San Juan Capistrano-based software maker OptionEase Inc. said it landed an investment from venture capital groups Tech Coast Angels and Pasadena Angels.
The company, which helps businesses with accounting of stock option payouts, counts $1.4 million in funding to date.
OptionEase didn’t say how much it raised in the latest round.
The company’s software is run from the Web and is geared mainly toward chief financial officers at private and publicly traded companies.
The funding is set to be used to develop a brand strategy and go after new customers, according to founder and Chief Executive Kimberly Kovacs.
Privately held OptionEase counts about 70 customers, including Irvine-based Integrien Corp., an information technology consultant.
