New tech company moves headquarters to Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Peter Vogt said the inspiration for Prepaid2Cash came from necessity.

“Basically got a Visa gift card for turning in my contacts and got a $50 card. I said I don’t want this, and I thought you could easily get cash for it... go to PayPal or Venmo or something, go to a bank even. And we tried all that, and we realized we could not get cash for these cards,” says Vogt.

Right now, he’s based in San Francisco. But one visit east and he decided to see his company grow while firmly planted in the mountains of the Magic City.

"We were blown away by the amount of resources available to a company like ours."

He was brought here by the Alabama Futures Fund, which finances startup companies. While here, they met with business, community and government leaders.

“Compared to San Francisco, if you’re not a unicorn today, people don’t really care about you. And so we felt quite the opposite in Birmingham.”

Officials with Alabama Futures Fund say there are several reasons why Birmingham is so attractive to businesses.

"The number one thing I think that has resonated with so many entrepreneurs has been the cost of living. If you're in San Francisco trying to launch a business, it's going to cost five-ten times what it is here. They can do it cheaper, the cost of living is cheaper, the quality of life for a lot of folks is actually better here," says Mickey Millsap.

This also means more jobs as Vogt will look to expand his team.

“I mean this is great, we’re excited to get down there and really appreciative of all the support and interest in our company, so we’re pumped to be part of the community,” says Vogt.

Vogt will be settling in over the next few months. When he does hire, he will look to fill customer service, his technology team and marketing team.

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