If you’ve ever wondered how a website personalizes advertising to you, an Akron-based company’s operations could offer a glimpse into the technology for the banking world.
Segmint Inc., a company that started in 2008, uses technology to take a consumer’s banking transactions — anonymously — and analyze purchases to find what it calls “key lifestyle indicators.”
Maybe you have bought a new car or home, or you are planning a wedding or buying baby gear. Once the analysis is done without Segmint knowing who the customer is, Segmint takes the information and works with the bank to customize advertisements that will show up on a web page during online banking.
That means a family expecting a baby will get customized ads on a bank website for college savings plans. A person making home project purchases might see an ad for a home-equity loan.
It all helps a bank understand customers better, said Rob Heiser, 36, president and chief executive officer. Segmint’s technology uses more than 150,000 characteristics as it analyzes transactions to come up with the “key lifestyle indicators,” Heiser said.
Heiser said he and others of his generation don’t bank the way their parents formerly did.
“I don’t go to a bank anymore. I bank in my pocket,” he said, pulling out his mobile phone. “When my father went to the bank, they knew I was five years old.”
That’s not the case anymore, so Segmint offers assistance about mobile and online clients, said Nate Shahan, 34, vice president of product development.
“We create a digital relationship. If you don’t walk into a bank branch, we allow the bank to create a relationship with customers who only do online or mobile banking,” he said.
There are other companies that provide similar products to the industry, but Segmint believes it helps what might be called a full solution, said Shahan.
Heiser and Shahan — friends from their college days — have seven U.S. patents pending for their technology, which takes data anonymously, and about 20 patents internationally. One has fellow founder John Cale’s name on it and another has John Relyea’s, executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Segmint had roots in an incubator at the University of Akron’s Research Foundation before moving to offices in Tallmadge in January. The company, which has 16 full-time employees and four interns, has quickly outgrown its space and is looking for new space in downtown Akron or Tallmadge.
In May, Segmint received a $1.5 million, seven-year loan from the Ohio Department of Development to spur job creation, which will double the company’s staff. The company has committed to adding 20 new jobs in the next 12 months.
The company originally was funded by friends and family and local “angel investors,” said Heiser. One was Bob Cooper, a longtime Akron real estate investor and director of commercial real estate firm CBRE Akron.
Cooper said he sought out Heiser and his colleagues to invest in the company after a meeting through the UA foundation.
“I was really excited about their technology and think it’s a big piece of the future,” said Cooper, who has become a mentor to the group.
Cooper said in addition to Segmint’s technology, he was impressed that there was a desire to stay in the Akron area rather than locate in California.
“The fact that they wanted to stay in Akron really meant a lot to me,” said Cooper. “Our future is to incubate and develop businesses.”
Heiser said he and his colleagues have deep roots in Northeast Ohio and want to keep their company here.
“There’s an incredible group of people here. There’s a great pool of very talented workers,” said Heiser. The average age of Segmint employees is 30 to 35.
The company was founded by Heiser; Shahan; Tom Tyrrell, chairman of the board, 66; and Heiser’s longtime friend, Cale, vice president of business development, 46.
The funding from the state comes at a good time for the company since it is difficult for startup companies to get loans from traditional banks, said Heiser.
Also, it prevented the company from needing venture capital funding, he said.
“In Ohio, it is difficult that there are not a lot of capital investors interested in high-tech investment,” said Heiser.
Cooper, who describes himself as a conservative investor and said Segmint is the “wildest” investment he’s made, said it’s often a “vulture environment” for startups.
“People are trying to give them cash and the way they buy their position is to dilute the initial investors,” who are typically friends and family, he said. Segmint has fought hard not to be diluted and not to hurt its investors, Cooper said.
In a relatively small amount of time, Segmint has made some big strides, landing a contract with Sharetec, which provides software for about 330 credit unions across the country.
The company would not disclose names but is also working on some pilot programs with some major U.S. financial institutions. The privately held company declined to discuss revenues.
The company first launched its product last May and landed the Sharetec deal in November. The company’s technology could be used in industries other than banking, but banking makes the most sense right now, said Relyea, 45.
Daniel Miller, vice president and chief technology officer for North Canton-based GBS Corp., a business services company that owns part of Sharetec, said Segmint’s product goes further than its competitors.
“We have the ability to provide a very targeted message in home banking. We can take that same information in mail and email campaigns as well,” said Miller.
“Instead of getting a piece of junk mail that is irrelevant to you, you’re getting a tailored message that will connect with you.”
