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• Author: Hughes, Leah
• Position: Brief article

A Charlotte startup thinks it's the future of parking. Too bad it can't find space in its hometown.

PassportParking Inc.'s new headquarters is fairly boilerplate for a tech startup, which is to say it's very cool. Across the street from a craft brewery in Charlotte's trendy South End neighborhood, the 8,500-square-foot renovated warehouse is a mostly open floor plan, with employees--the dress code runs from yoga pants to chinos--grouped in three-desk pods. There are pingpong and foosball tables and an Xbox that can be played on a projection screen, as well as a couple of bottles of brown liquor on a table near the refrigerator. The staff just moved in, so things are messy: The kitchen and shower, for those who ride their bikes to work or come to the office after CrossFit, are under construction.

The company's product--software that allows parkers to pay for spaces using a cloud-based app--isn't revolutionary, either. "People in the industry thought we were late, but people we were calling on thought we invented it," managing partner Khristian Gutierrez says. It claims to have about half of the pay-by-phone spaces in North America, though its main competitors, Parkmobile USA Inc. and PayByPhone, have been around longer and have deeper pockets. About a year ago, Passport secured $6 million in venture financing, which it used to increase its workforce from 14 in March to about 40 sales, research and service staffers. It handles mobile payments for cities such as Chicago, Toronto and Louisville, Ky., which are among more than 150 customers using its software in more than 600 locations. Founders and cousins Bob, 36, and Charlie Youakim, 37, won't disclose revenue but say it's soaring.

Trailblazing or not, Passport is a boon for Charlotte's tech scene, which needs a boost. While Raleigh-Cary and Chapel Hill-Durham rank among the top 25 U.S. metros for tech startups, according to a 2013 study by Kansas City, Mo.-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the state's largest MSA didn't make the cut. Local officials are trying to change that. In September, state and local governments pledged $8.6 million in incentives to AvidXchange Inc., which automates payroll services, after it pledged to add at least 600 jobs to the 200 it has in Charlotte and invest more than $20 million in a new headquarters. "It is important for us to grow and contribute to the city that has supported us from our days as a small startup," CEO Michael Praeger says in a statement.

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