BabyMint Achieves Profitability
Multiple Revenue Sources Combine to Lift Microinvesting Firm Into the Black
(PRWEB) October 11, 2002
ATLANTA (October 14, 2002) – BabyMint, Inc., the nation’s leading microinvesting technology company announced today that it has achieved sustainable profitability. The milestone comes only 18 months after the launch of their award-winning college savings accelerator program. According to BabyMint’s Chief Financial Officer, Mike Mitchell, the company’s profitability is the result of revenue generation from multiple product lines and a general maturing of their business model.
BabyMintÂ’s primary revenue is generated through its college savings accelerator program, which enables consumers to receive up to a 20% rebate on every-day purchases made through the companyÂ’s network of more than 700 retailers, including Barnes & Noble, Gap, Starbucks, Blockbuster, and others. Retailer and product rebates are automatically tracked and deposited in the consumerÂ’s college savings plan, while BabyMint receives a small commission for facilitating the transaction. The company also licenses its technology to financial advisory firms and individual advisors as an enhancement to investment products they sell, such as mutual funds and the tax-advantaged 529 savings plans that are increasingly popular. According to Financial Research Corporation, merchant and credit card rebates, such as those facilitated by BabyMint, have the potential to represent an incremental $1.1 billion per year in assets to banks and investment management firms.
“The reality is that we have been on the path to profitability for the past several months, as transaction volume in our consumer program and new subscriptions for our financial advisor program continued to gain strength”, according to Mitchell. “Additionally, with the implementation of two key initiatives during the fourth quarter of this year, I expect our revenue growth to accelerate substantially during the months ahead.”
“Clearly BabyMint is not only one of Atlanta’s emerging success stories, but a success story for the financial services industry in general”, says Dan Shmalo, Director of the Venture Finance Practice at 404Ventures, LLC. “Given the discipline and focus I have seen from their management team, I expect that the fourth quarter of this year and 2003 will see them take their business to the next level.”
When asked about his firm’s need for additional growth capital, BabyMint Founder and CEO Peter G. Davis stated that he has not ruled out the possibility, but that it is not a requirement moving forward. “We continue to discuss the potential of outside investment with several institutional investors. Clearly outside investment would enable us to further enhance our leadership position in the microinvesting arena and ramp up our revenue more quickly, but we also have great confidence in our ability to continue our growth organically.”
About BabyMint, Inc.
Headquartered in Atlanta, BabyMint, Inc. is widely recognized as the leader in microinvesting technology. Through its nationwide network of more than 700 retailers and 127,000 grocery stores, BabyMint’s proprietary “savings engine” enables individual investors to save toward a child’s college tuition while doing their daily shopping.
The program is also offered by more than 22,000 financial advisors who provide it to their clients as an enhancement to any college saving account, including federal income tax free 529 plans and Coverdell education savings accounts (formerly known as the Education IRA). The company's proprietary "savings engine" can also be licensed by financial institutions, retailers, and credit card issuers, who in turn brand and market the technology as a loyalty program to address various major life expenses (retirement, down payment on a new home, etc.). For more information please visit http://www. babymint. com (http://www. babymint. com).
###
