Cleveland, OH, February 16, 2009 — SparkBase (www.sparkbase.com), a rapidly growing processor of private label gift and loyalty cards, today announced that it received a North Coast Opportunities (NCO) Technology Fund loan from the Cuyahoga County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) in association with JumpStart’s TechLift program. Eight technology companies headquartered in Cuyahoga County competed for this coveted loan.
SparkBase has been a pioneer in the development of a stored-value network that allows independent sales organizations to power their gift and loyalty card business. SparkBase will use the NCO Technology Fund loan to create a state-of-the-art web-based customer relationship management system and to add staff at the company’s Cleveland headquarters.
“We are honored by the County’s investment in SparkBase,” said Geoff Hardman, president of SparkBase. “We’re proud to be located in Cuyahoga County and have the opportunity to work with the Department of Development. The County is dedicated to supporting technology businesses like ours. Their loan will allow us to hire people to build the leading, customer-focused internet portal in the industry.”
“The Cuyahoga County Commissioners created the NCO Technology Fund to accelerate technology-based entrepreneurship, create new high paying jobs, and increase the flow of private investment to county-based companies. SparkBase epitomizes the type of innovative company that is critical to fostering entrepreneurship and economic growth in our region,” said Greg Zucca, strategic program officer, Cuyahoga County Department of Development.
The NCO Technology Fund was developed by the Cuyahoga County Department of Development in collaboration with CuyahogaNext Advisors and JumpStart’s TechLift program. A selection committee comprised of TechLift Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, MAGNET, Inc., and Cuyahoga County evaluated the applications and chose SparkBase as this year’s recipient.
About SparkBase – SparkBase entered the stored-value industry in early 2004 as the first truly independent gift and loyalty processing network. SparkBase continues to lead in innovation with its proprietary gateway, using patent pending technologies for processing stored value transactions with traditional cards, and new mobile payments methods. Developed in house at their headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, SparkBase is a leader in gift and reward processing. For more information, visit sparkbase.com.
About The Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners
Cuyahoga County has a population over 1.4 million people. Its Department of Development provides unique and award-winning programs to help local citizens and businesses. With some of the most creative programs in community development, economic development and housing, the Department has responded to a mandate to innovate from the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners. For more information, please visit development.cuyahogacounty.us.
About TechLift
TechLift is a JumpStart-led program designed to provide unparalleled services to technology entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio. It is a collaborative effort between JumpStart, NorTech, Northeast Ohio’s Edison funded incubators (BioEnterprise and the five regional incubations that comprise NEOinc: Akron Global Business Accelerator, BrainTree, GLIDE, MAGNET, and Youngstown Business Incubator) and pre-seed investment funds (JumpStart, Glengary, NorthCoast Angel Fund and GLIDE Innovation Fund). For more information, please visit techlift.com.
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