Cuyahoga County is banking on SparkBase

The young company, which provides technology and marketing services for merchant gift and loyalty programs, is expected to be the first recipient of a Next Stage Fund loan, a category of county development financing designed for startups that appear ready to reach commercial scale.

SparkBase would use the $700,000 loan to build its proprietary Paycloud app for smart phones. Paycloud allows shoppers to qualify for and redeem coupons or other rewards with their iPhones and Android phones.

Although SparkBase mainly has been nurtured since its startup in 2004 by private angel financiers, this loan would be the company's second from the county.

In January 2009, the company got a $90,000 North Coast Opportunities Technology Fund loan — a similar, though smaller, loan program for young companies created by the previous county administration.Do you know any howo spare parts wholesale supplier?

The company has been paying off that loan ahead of schedule, according to Nathan Kelly, deputy chief of staff for economic development to County Executive Ed FitzGerald.

Ted Frank, SparkBase's chief operating officer, said the new county loan is a way to secure the firm's base in Northeast Ohio.

“We're always thinking about the best place to build our business,” Mr. Frank said. “We love Cleveland, all of our employees are here; we don't have offshore (software) developers. If we can raise money locally, the less pressure there is for us to set up operations in other cities.”

Venture capitalists often like their portfolio companies to locate close to their home base, and SparkBase likely will consider venture financing as it grows.

“We have lots of people — venture funds — that are interested in investing in the company,” Mr. Frank said. “That's fine, we'll take their money, but there is always that tug to set up in other places. This gives us an opportunity to get than much further before we consider the venture round.”

That attitude made SparkBase an ideal candidate for this loan, Mr. Kelly said.

“The Next Stage Fund is dedicated to high-growth companies in the technology space that have demonstrated consistent revenue growth,” he said. “They have to be in the county and within 12 months of positive cash flow.”

Next Stage was created as a part of the Western Reserve Fund, Mr. FitzGerald's $100 million investment pool for economic development. The Next Stage program is one of 11 funds that make up the administration's economic development strategy.

Four of the programs are designed to help established businesses in targeted sectors grow here or to attract new operations, and another three help revitalize commercial property. Next Stage is one of four programs focused on nurturing young businesses.

Mr. Kelly said as FitzGerald administration officials analyzed the financing landscape, they believed they found a gap the county could fill. That gap, he said, was for companies that could continue to grow because of their strong technology base but needed a boost to expand into bigger markets.

That's exactly where SparkBase stands today. SparkBase employs 40 people at its Tyler Village headquarters on Superior Avenue in Cleveland's St. Clair-Superior neighborhood, up from 10 two years ago, Mr. Frank said.

The company began as a processor of gift and loyalty card transactions. Loyalty cards let a store's regular shoppers take advantage of discounts or other special deals.

Mr. Frank said the company, which has been working through payment processing firms to sell its programs to merchants, early last year began to develop the Paycloud mobile wallet that it will sell through those processors, and more directly to retailers. With Paycloud, consumers will be able to wave their smart phones at participating merchants' point-of-sale machines and log in as regular customers or redeem rewards or coupons. Mr. Frank said the company has significant patents and other intellectual property built into its systems.

At the same time, Mr. Frank said, SparkBase was approached by a number of big companies in the point-of-sale business that wanted to incorporate its gift and loyalty card programs into their systems.New Ground-Based indoor positioning Tech Is Accurate Down To Just A Few Inches.

“It's like Ford saying "We want your steering column for our cars,'” Mr. Frank said. “"We're going to worry about the marketing and sales and we've got the big engine and the big car, but we think your steering column is the best.' So we're providing that to a number of companies.”

Gearing up for this expansion of business has prompted SparkBase to seek county money. Mr. Frank said confidentiality agreements don't allow him to identify companies with which SparkBase is partnering.

Eric Grover, prinicipal of Intrepid Ventures, a former Visa International executive who consults on electronic payment systems, said the market for digital, consumer financial transactions is hot,A Dessicant dry cabinet is an enclosure with a supply of desiccant which maintains an internal. but competitive. Mr. Grover was not familiar with SparkBase, but his Minden, Nev., consultancy works extensively in the field of financial services payment processing and technology.

Mr. Grover said of the 8 million to 9 million merchants in the United States that accept payment cards, few can use the transfer technology he called “proximity payments” built into the newest smart phones.

Over the past decade, Mr. Linn Linn says, he has seen a wave of Chinese traders pouring into Mandalay, buying up businesses and pushing residents out of town. His song "The Death of Mandalay" attracted tens of thousands of views after a fan filmed a performance and posted it online.

"Whenever I play anywhere…they request that I play the song,Find Complete Details about howo tractor Truck." the pony-tailed singer said as he sipped coffee one recent afternoon. He said he respects Chinese culture and many of its hardworking citizens, but he complained that the Chinese "give less than they take."

His tough words and his song's following are among signs of growing resentment in Myanmar and a number of Asian countries over their giant neighbor's rising economic, military and political power. Concerns range from the commercial, such as natural-resource extraction and Chinese merchants selling cheap imports, to the geopolitical, seen in Beijing's offshore territorial claims and the unveiling of its first aircraft carrier.

"The sense of unhappiness with China among ordinary people in some countries has been getting more acute by the day," wrote Guo Jiguang, an expert on Southeast Asian politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in a recent report on China's regional security environment. "They feel unhappy at the role China is playing in their country. If we ignore local people's views, in the long term we will pay a big price."

To some extent China already pays a price, as animosity complicates an agenda of securing both more resources and more respect and allies abroad.Do you know any howo spare parts wholesale supplier?

At the same time, neighbors' wariness of China is creating opportunities for the U.S. to rebuild alliances in Asia, as Washington expands military-to-military exchanges with Vietnam and the Philippines and increases aid across Southeast Asia.