City of San Antonio - File #: 16-4827

• File #: 16-4827
• Type: Miscellaneous Item
• In control: City Council A Session
• On agenda: 9/29/2016
• Posting Language: An Ordinance authorizing the San Antonio Economic Development Corporation to undertake an economic development project with HelpSocial, Inc. in an amount up to $100,000.00. [Carlos Contreras, Assistant City Manager, Rene Dominguez, Director, Economic Development]

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
9/29/2016	1	City Council A Session	adopted	Pass

DEPARTMENT: Economic Development Department


DEPARTMENT HEAD: Rene Dominguez


COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Council District 1


SUBJECT:

Ordinance authorizing the San Antonio Economic Development Corporation (SAEDC) to undertake an economic development project with HelpSocial, Inc. ("HelpSocial") in the amount of $100,000 in accordance with the SAEDC Investment Guidelines.


SUMMARY:

Staff is requesting City Council approval and authorization for the SAEDC to enter into an Economic Development Agreement with HelpSocial in the amount of $100,000 to undertake an economic development project in San Antonio.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

HelpSocial, Inc. is a local startup technology company and successful graduate of the Techstars Cloud accelerator program in San Antonio. The company was co-founded in 2014 by President and CEO, Matt Wilbanks, and CTO, Robert Collazo, both former Rackspace employees. HelpSocial develops web and mobile apps for integrating social media to support customer service center operations and sells their software platform to major contact center software companies, such as inContact.

HelpSocial's headquarters and business operations are located in downtown San Antonio at the Rand Building on Houston Street. The company currently has 6 employees and plans to have at least 10 employees by 2017. In August 2016, HelpSocial secured a minimum 2-year contract with inContact, a publicly traded company and leading provider of cloud contact center software and optimization tools for 175,000 agents in 100 countries. The company is projecting to be profitable by 2017.

HelpSocial has raised $1.4 million, mostly from local investors, and is currently raising another $1,000,000 in a preferred stock offering with funds to be used to expand capacity/workforce and fund operations over the next 18 months. The SAEDC is requesting authority from the City to undertake an economic development project with HelpSocial in the amount of $100,000. Through this in...