INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business

BRONZE AWARD
The Receivables Exchange
Key innovation: an online capital market for buying,
selling and trading commercial receivables for private
companies
Where they’re based: New Orleans
Top executive: Justin Brownhill, CEO and co-founder;
Nic Perkin, president and co-founder
Year introduced: 2008
PHOTO BY FRANK AYMAMI
JUSTIN BROWNHILL AND Nic Perkin have taken huge
steps toward putting the Crescent City on the same financial
map as Chicago and New York.
With the creation of The Receivables Exchange, the two
men opened a marketplace where small- and medium-sized
businesses can gain access to working capital by buying, selling
and trading assets.
“The system works much like the New York Stock
Exchange, but for privately held entities,” said Receivables
Exchange president Perkin. “The sellers are small companies
that sell their assets online and the buyers are hedge
funds and family offices looking at receivables as equity.”
Where Perkin envisioned the idea of modernizing
accounts receivable, Brownhill, co-founder and CEO, conceptualized
the exchange. Brownhill drew from his experience
in exchange strategy and trading technology to structure
a marketplace where accounts receivable could be funded
and traded like other assets on an exchange.
Perkin said the exchange is one-of-a-kind in that it is the
only marketplace that is completely electronic — every transaction
is performed online.
“It allows quick access to working capital,” Perkin said.
“It is also very diverse in that it is not ‘all or none.’ Clients can
buy a portion of a company’s receivables and not have to put
all their money in one place.”
The Receivables Exchange runs on the same technology
that powers the New York Stock Exchange’s electronic
bond trading system. The technology and security measures
backing the exchange’s engine and Web site provide safeguards
that allow for the secure electronic transfer of corporate
and account information for trading receivables.
Perkin said he was drawn to the New Orleans market
after living in the city for four years while he pursued a bachelor’s
degree from Tulane University.
“I always dreamed of coming back to the city, but I had to
find the right opportunity,” Perkin said. “We spent a lot of
time looking for a major city to house the exchange and as
we dug deeper we determined that New Orleans, with its
low cost of living and connection to institutions, was a great
fit for us. It was a location outside of normal financial hubs.
We have had great luck so far.”•
— Robin Shannon
Nic Perkin, president and co-founder of The Receivables Exchange, has created a receivables system with CEO and co-founder Justin
Brownhill that allows businesses to place their accounts receivable on an online trading block.
New Orleans CityBusiness 9A