A St. Petersburg-based fintech company that aims to help users fight fraud and find promotional offers has hired a new leader.
SKUx, which combines blockchain and artificial intelligence with patent-pending technology, hired Jay Loeffler as its new president this week. Loeffler previously served at St. Pete-based Valpak and SKULocal as chief revenue officer. SKULocal and SKUx have no relation to each other, but Loeffler did serve on SKUx’s board the last three years before taking over the helm.
“It’s a great breadth of diverse experience, which is the key to disrupting the industry,” he said. “It’s not just a tech lens or marketing; it’s bringing everything together. One of the things that brought me on is the talent that’s here and all that can develop from the tech.”
The technology Loeffler referred to is its new SKUPay offering, which replaces coupons and promotional offers with a static QR code. That code is intended to prevent fraud and delays that come with more traditional methods. The company plans to extend the offering to retailers and in a partnership manner with industry players.
“There will be a duality of marketing and public relations, and also channel partners, to get the message out to bigger companies like Catalina and Valpak about the pioneer technology that we built,” he said. “We have quite a few partners, and we don’t want to look at quantity but more quality. We’re going to evaluate over the next 60 days which ones to go deeper with and which ones to part ways with.”
The company has roughly 35 employees, with five full-time sales employees and expects to grow as it focuses on sales and marketing.
“I’m three days in, so I’m still building my plan,” Loeffler said. “But we’ve gotten the tech right — now what we need is to build the tactical execution to bring the product to market. It’s to package the great tech, showcase how it will disrupt multiple verticals, then bring on a sales team.”
Loeffler added he expects the company to keep its headquarters in downtown St. Petersburg, spanning 1,800 square feet in the Tampa Bay Innovation Center at 500 First Ave. N, but that also could be up for discussion as his game plan solidifies.
“We want to hire the right people — whether it is in a remote environment or we are building it here, it will be tied to the strategy and where to find the best talent to support that,” he said. “Our hope is to expand, whether that be at a corporate office or work-from-home remote environment.”
The company has raised over $11 million to date, according to its founders. Loeffler did not fully elaborate on whether the company plans to pursue funding in the future, simply stating it will be “opportunistic.”
