Friday, July 18, 2008

Givvy makes charitable giving high-tech

By Mass High Tech Staff

Givvy Inc.
Headquarters: Lexington
Employees: 3
Founded: 2007
The Pitch: Givvy is looking for financing to launch its business.
Web: www.givvy.com
E-mail: jtreadway@givvy.com
Phone: 617-290-3955

PITCHING THE TECHNOLOGY
Givvy Inc. is a for-profit company looking to make charitable giving more efficient through technology. The company’s product is called Givvy@Work. It’s a workplace/employee solution to help companies of all sizes provide a comprehensive giving solution to their people. Givvy@Work is based on the company’s giving management system software, which enables people to plan, research, execute and analyze their charitable giving.  The software includes such features as matching donations, volunteer rewards and grants. The system will initially process only credit card donations, but Givvy said automatic giving from worker’s paychecks is in its plans.

PITCHING THE PEOPLE
Who is on the management team? John Treadway, CEO, former founder/CEO of Digibug Express Inc. and former senior vice president at Sybase Inc.’s Financial Fusion Inc.; and co-founder Seth Lipkin, former co-founder of Callisto Corp. and co-creator of Meeting Maker and other software applications.

Have executives been involved in a cashout prior to this venture? Treadway sold Digibug Express to Farmingdale, N.Y.-based digital media company Zaah Technologies.

Who is on the board of advisers? Carol Yelverton, vice president of O’Neill and Associates LLC, and former New England director of communications for the American Red Cross; and Michon Schenck, former COO of IDC’s Financial Insights and Financial Fusion.

PITCHING THE BUSINESS
How much money is being sought? Givvy is seeking seed financing of $500,000 to launch its business.

What partnerships, collaborations or affiliations are already in place? The company said it is partnered with Network for Good for donation processing.

Any federal or state grants, contracts or awards received? None.

What’s the market size being pursued? Givvy describes its target market as 100,000 businesses with more than 100 employees, totaling a more than $500 million opportunity.

Who are the likely competitors? Givvy said its competition at companies with more than 5,000 employees comes from local United Way organizations.

Is the company profitable? No.