Core Merchant, a financial transaction start-up, is preparing for a big growth year in 2012 thanks to a number of contracts it has nailed down this year.
Alex Linebrink, Munaf Assaf and Brandon Darling created the TechTown-based startup after graduating from
Bizdom U with the idea of bringing a faster, cheaper and more transparent vehicle to processing credit card payments. They believe their new system will allow these transactions to be done for less money and give customers a better idea of where their money is going.
So far the start-up has landed the likes of
Quicken Loans and the Cleveland Cavaliers as clients. It has also added other smaller firms, and is aiming to sign up more growing firms in the tech and health-care industries. The company expects to do $250 million worth of transactions in 2012.
"Things have been going very well in the last five months," says
Alex Linebrink, CEO of
Core Merchant. He adds that the company is also aiming to grow its client base locally over the next year, too. "We want to be the go-to guys for merchant in Detroit," he says.
Core Merchant currently employs three people but plans to practically double its staff by the new year. The 15-month-old start-ups expects to hire another 25-30 people in 2012, all of whom will be based in Detroit.
"We believe in Detroit," Linebrink says. "We're centered here and we want to stay here for a longtime."
Source: Alex Linebrink, CEO of Core Merchant
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at
SEMichiganStartup.com.
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