As co-founder of Supply Pay, William Steele works with companies throughout the Rio Grande Valley and Latin America
Supply Pay works with cross-border trade finance, primarily in the fresh produce sector, and has financed $1.5 million worth of trade deals to date.
“The opportunity to facilitate this trade and really make a difference in the lives of farmers, producers and suppliers in Mexico is a tremendous asset to me,” said Steele.
Steele and his partner expanded their business through the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation.
“It makes me really happy that we were actually able to build a successful technology company in a place where people might have thought there wasn’t one,” Steele said.
Supply Pay is one of several companies that emerged from BCIC and the eBridge Center.
“To retain our top talent, we needed to create our own entrepreneurship ecosystem with a focus on technology, manufacturing and healthcare,” said Nathan Burkhart, vice president of entrepreneurship and innovation at BCIC.
Burkhart believes eBridge’s programs and resources help entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life.
According to Secure Data Recovery, a California-based data recovery company, Brownsville ranks second on the top 10 list of emerging technology centers.
Brownsville also ranked first in employee growth rate. Brownsville has added 900 new jobs in the technology industry since 2019.
“It’s a real validation of all the work we’ve done, but it’s also a nationwide trend,” Burkhart said. “You see tech companies leaving these larger centers and moving into mid-sized cities and communities like ours.”
The survey also shows that the number of technology companies setting up shop in Brownsville has increased by 54% over a five-year period.
To obtain the results, Secure Data Recovery analyzed employment and wage data from the U.S. Department of Labor for the technology industry in small and medium-sized U.S. cities.
Burkhart says the Port of Brownsville and SpaceX are helping to increase the workforce.
The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation provides funding and mentoring for start-up businesses. More information is available online.
Watch the video above to hear the full story.
Brownsville recognized as an emerging technology location
