Hugh F. Culverhouse, Jr. on Tuesday ran a factually challenged full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal continuing his calls for a complete boycott of the state of Alabama and its flagship university. However, his pleas seem to be falling on deaf ears, even in California, with a tech company announcing it will be relocating to the Yellowhammer State, saying, “We were blown away.”
A press release announced that the Alabama Futures Fund recently placed an investment in Prepaid2Cash Holdings, Inc. (P2C). Based in San Francisco, California, P2C uses advanced technologies to allow consumers to exchange gift cards for cash via their smartphones.
In connection with the investment, P2C is relocating its worldwide headquarters from San Francisco to Birmingham.
In 2017, the P2C team identified an opportunity to offer a fast, secure and affordable way to allow users to convert gift and prepaid cards into cash. Where competitors in the space have developed marketplaces that allow users to exchange cards or sell them to other users for cash at a discount, P2C’s technology and partnerships allow users to exchange their cards and receive payment directly to their bank account within 24 hours or via check in a few business days.
Since its inception, P2C has processed millions of dollars in transactions, has thousands of users and is growing quickly, with the company’s relocation set to add to an already thriving Birmingham tech community.
Matt Hottle, partner at Redhawk Advisory, serves as the Investment Manager for the Alabama Futures Fund.
“We loved this business model immediately,” Hottle said in a statement. “P2C brings a simple and valuable customer proposition with an advanced technology platform to a huge market opportunity. What the P2C team has done already is remarkable and we are excited to bring another great team and company to Alabama.”
The company is also ecstatic about moving to Alabama, citing the tremendous business climate.
“We are excited to join the burgeoning tech community in Birmingham,” Peter Vogt, co-founder and CEO of P2C, emphasized. “We were blown away by the ample resources and support available to a growing business like ours. This gives us confidence in our ability to scale our company and access new customers and tap regional connections.”
This comes immediately on the heels of Yellowhammer News publishing articles on Alabama’s soaring aerospace industry and the state’s top-notch workforce development efforts, showcasing that the Yellowhammer State is focused on being the most business-friendly place in the world. And, despite the dubious cries of Culverhouse, a Floridian, Alabama is currently on the way to doing just that by focusing on the priorities of industry: infrastructure, workforce, supply chains, regulatory environment and taxes.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
