Former Procter & Gamble Co. executive and public company founder Ed Rigaud has taken a role with a startup Cincinnati payments company as part of his next act.
Rigaud has joined Pay Theory, which provides payment services for school districts, child care and families, as an adviser.
Rigaud knows Pay Theory co-founder and CEO Brad Hoeweler and his family well and has invested in the company.
“Brad Hoeweler is first class,” Rigaud told me. “He is smart, with a deep understanding of finance and technology, coupled with a big heart and compassion for people and his Cincinnati community. He is a strong family man from a strong Cincinnati family, and I feel like he is a son in my family.
“I have invested money in Pay Theory, but more importantly I want to invest my time helping the company to grow, and to help families who don't have the financial service support they need to be successful.”
Pay Theory, which operates out of offices at Over-the-Rhine-based startup catalyst Cintrifuse as well as from the Evendale offices of Hoeweler’s family’s businesses, gives underbanked families the ability to access digital systems for schools using cash.
Here’s how it works: Parents can get a bar code at one of nearly 45,000 retailers across the country, including CVS, Rite Aid,and Walgreens, to pay for school expenses to be scanned by the cashier upon receipt of the cash payment. Pay Theory’s system keeps a digital record of the transaction and immediately reconciles the transaction with the school. The process eliminates the need to send students to school with cash.
It’s free to schools, vendors and families. Pay Theory makes money from interchange fees paid by banks and credit card companies.
About one-third of families with students in school from kindergarten through high school are underbanked or unbanked.
"Pay Theory is an important step in closing the gap for the unbankable and underbanked population, who are doing their best to succeed in this time of economic and family health stress," Rigaud said. "This is the type of innovation that our country needs to put all of our families on a firm footing.”
Hoeweler, meanwhile, was recently named an adviser to Fintech Frontier, an innovation partnership of Cincinnati-based financial technology entrepreneurs led by Cintrifuse.
Hoeweler co-founded Pay Theory in March 2019 with Eric Fulkert, Aron Price and Pablo Martinez. It now employs nine. The company hasn’t generated revenue yet as it tests its products.
Hoeweler previously founded internet payments company Skipjack and led it before and after it was acquired by Symmes Township-based payment processing giant Vantiv Inc.
“Ed’s desire to build into Cincinnati companies is one of the things that brings international recognition to the Queen City,” Hoeweler said. “Having his support expedites Pay Theory’s momentum and helps us to advance further our mission of bringing inclusive financial technology to the world of family tech.”
Pay Theory is one of several ventures Rigaud is involved with since his publicly traded Legacy Acquisition Corp. acquired a New Jersey company for $285 million late last year and moved its headquarters to New Jersey. Rigaud is still on the board of online auto parts marketplace operator Parts ID, but he’s not involved day to day.
He is very involved with Queen City Hills, a real estate developer he launched with several partners that is developing property to create a life sciences innovation hub on the southwest corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Reading Road.
“I also plan to continue to encourage African Americans to invest in real estate projects which help our community to prosper,” Rigaud said. “My main thrust is to advance the cause of inclusive capitalism by helping minority and women-owned businesses to maximize their success.
Locally based prepaid card company Kurense, which has received an investment from startup investor CincyTech, and skin care product maker True Shea are companies for which he had provided guidance.
Rigaud is also returning to playing jazz/blues guitar and doing artwork.
“Everything I do tends to be about creating and building, including building positive relationships with people who have different ideas and different purposes in life,” he said.
