GoCoin

GoCoin is a payment gateway and loyalty system for online and retail merchants. Its technology solutions allows these merchants to accept "blockchain" currencies such as bitcoin, litecoin and dogecoin as a payment method.

The merchant can keep the coins, or it can instantly exchange them to its preferred currency.

For merchants that use its solution, GoCoin assumes any risk, eliminates costly fraud associated with credit card theft, and removes the possibility of chargebacks.

Once its easy-to-install payment gateway is integrated into the merchant checkout flow, the eCommerce site will not only accept blockchain currencies, but its customers can also pay with credit cards. Upon first checkout, shoppers will have the opportunity to securely save their payment preferences into the GoCoin online "wallet."

Most consumers expect loyalty points or rewards as part of their shopping experience. In fact, 27% of consumers say they abandoned their online shopping cart because they "wanted a discount coupon." It's worth mentioning that it took 30 years for credit cards to reach 50% of U.S. households. Mass adoption occurred only in the late 80s, after credit card companies began offering loyalty and rewards programs.

Accordingly, the GoCoin platform provides a full blockchain-backed loyalty program that gives merchants the ability to provide discounts and incentives to engage customers and increase sales.

GoCoin earns revenue from gateway transaction fees (GoCoin takes a 1% fee), and margin on selling blockchain currencies.

* Company Status *

GoChain launched its service in December 2013. In 2014, GoCoin was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine as the "Hottest LA Startup."

By February 2015, it had signed major partnerships, including with real estate company RE/MAX UK to offer digital currency payments for rental customers.

By November 2015, the company was cash flow positive on an operating basis. In December 2015, the company processed its one millionth transaction. It now process more Blockchain transactions for payments of goods and services than any competitor worldwide. Its turnover in December 2015 was $2.71 million.

Team Background

Bob Wilkins - Founder & COO

Bob is a veteran entrepreneur with a passion for people and emerging technology.

He was formerly the Founder of Ziftr (which was acquired by GoGoin), as well myVBO, ActionItems, and RadGames.

He was also the former President of PC Connection, Macs Place, and Egghead Software.

Steve Beauregard - Founder & CEO

Steve is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor.

Prior to GoCoin, Steve had a 25-year career in mobile apps, eCommerce and Fintech. Steve has been COO of a publicly traded eCommerce business, and acted as strategic advisor to Fortune-500 C-level executive teams.

Steve has delivered keynote speeches around the globe at mobile, eCommerce, Fintech and Blockchain currency events.

He earned two bachelor of science degrees in Computer Science and Accounting from Frostburg State University and studied Computer Engineer in the Master’s program at The Johns Hopkins University.

Margot Ritcher - CFO

"Big 4" CPA Experience. Former executive at DIRECTV, XM Radio, Epoch Payments, and Arcadian Health. 4-time CFO in the public & private sector, with compliance & regulatory expertise.

William Quigly - Board Member

William Quigley joined Clearstone Venture Partners (formerly idealab Capital Partners) shortly after its formation and concentrates on its Internet, Gaming and Communications related investments.

William's current portfolio reflects his belief in the enormous opportunities in the consumer Internet, wireless and enterprise markets (Xfire.com, Titan Gaming, AOptix Technologies, SoonR, Meru Networks, Novariant).

He is also focused on emerging companies offering managed services in the enterprise and consumer sectors (Communicado, Spock Networks).

William is a member of the board of directors of AOptix Technologies, Meru Networks, Novariant, SoonR, Xfire and Evertune.

William joined Clearstone from Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds, where he invested in early-stage Internet and communications companies. Prior to MAVF, he was the chief financial officer of Disney's merchandise licensing division, the world's largest licensor. Before Disney, he was a consultant with Arthur Andersen where he worked with media entertainment and banking clients.

Brock Pierce - Co-Founder and Board Observer

Brock Pierce is a 15x entrepreneur best known for pioneering the market for digital currency. He is Co-Founder of GoCoin, ExpressCoin, BlockStreet, Coin Congress, ZenBox, Crypto Currency Partners, KnCMiner.cn, and Robocoin Asia.

Pierce is a sought-after commentator on the Bitcoin economy and sits on the Board of the Bitcoin Foundation.

Pierce is a prolific angel investor, city leader of BitAngels Los Angeles and runs the first Bitcoin syndicate to achieve top 10 status on AngelList.

Pierce has raised more than $200 million on behalf of his companies and led more than 30 acquisitions in his career.

Pierce's entrepreneurial activities are focused in the areas of digital currencies like Bitcoin, gaming, ad tech and payments. He is the founder of IMI Exchange, the worlds leading digital currency marketplace for games with sales exceeding US$1 billion annually, which raised over $100 Million from blue chip investors such as Goldman Sachs and Oak Investment Partners; ZAM, one of the worlds largest media properties for gamers with more than 15 million monthly users which was sold in January 2012 to Tencent; IGE, the company credited with pioneering the market for digital currency in online games, which generated $100 million in revenue in 2006 and was sold in early 2007.

He is also a founder of Playsino, Five Delta, Evertune, GamesTV, Digital Entertainment Network. Pierce also led the acquisition of Xfire from Viacom.

Pierce is also an active supporter of non-profit and advocacy organizations and is a member of Clinton Global Initiative. He has also been a guest lecturer at Stanford, USC, and UCLA.

Co-Investors

Owen Van Natta

Former COO of Facebook, CEO of MySpace and EVP of Business at Zynga

500 Startups

Prominent seed fund and accelerator program founded by PayPal and Google alumni. Investments include AngelList, Unbounce, and Behance.

Blockchain Capital

Venture firm specializing in investing in Blockchain enabled technology companies. Its initial fund was the first VC Fund dedicated to the Bitcoin/Blockchain ecosystem. The three co-founders of the firm are experienced and accomplished entrepreneurs and venture capital investors. Bart Stephens has a background in financial technology starting at E*TRADE and running a Silicon Valley technology hedge fund before Blockchain Capital. Brock Pierce is a serial entrepreneur, digital currency visionary, and is Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation. Brad Stephens has a Wall Street background focused on Internet security and cryptography while working for Credit Suisse and Fidelity.

Gil Penchina

Serial entrepreneur and prolific angel investor. Former VP at eBay and CEO at Wikia.

Brock Pierce

15x entrepreneur best known for pioneering the market for digital currency. He is Co-Founder of GoCoin, ExpressCoin, BlockStreet, Coin Congress, ZenBox, Crypto Currency Partners, KnCMiner.cn, and Robocoin Asia.

William Quigley

William Quigley joined Clearstone Venture Partners (formerly idealab Capital Partners) shortly after its formation and concentrates on its Internet, Gaming and Communications related investments. His current portfolio includes Xfire.com, Titan Gaming, and Novariant.

BTCS

Early mover in the blockchain and digital currency ecosystems, and the first "Pure Play" U.S. public company focused on blockchain technologies. (OTCQB: BTCS).

Prolific Venture Capital

NYC-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies. Investments include NativeFlow, CoCoin, and Glide.