St. Pete fintech startup expands internationally

A St. Petersburg-based financial technology company has processed over $1 billion in payments and is now rapidly expanding internationally. 

Joseph Cover, CEO of 1PriceSwipes, believes he can “take a bite out of” Stripe’s payment processing business. He and his wife, Vicky, co-founded the startup in 2017.

The husband-and-wife duo have embraced innovation and believe their approach will disrupt the current payment services ecosystem. Cover attributed the company’s recent success to “operating with a very high level of integrity.” 

“Payment acceptance is an unregulated industry, which is great in a lot of ways,” Cover said. “But it also allows a lot of guys in my position to promise and then underdeliver, and kind of get away with it. I didn’t like the feel of that.” 

Merchants do not pay any upfront costs to use 1PriceSwipes devices. The subscription-based service also eliminates processing fees.

Local clients include The Burg Bar & Grill and Mi Carreta Restaurant & Bakery. According to the 1PriceSwipes website, the platform has saved over 1,000 business owners more than $15 million in processing costs. 

Cover launched the company in Cocoa Beach before moving to Tampa and, eventually, St. Petersburg. He “fell in love with the area” and realized the number of local businesses presented an opportunity for exponential growth. 

“I quickly saw the light,” Cover said. “The majority of my work has been done here in the bay area.” 

He noted that “word gets around really fast about how you conduct yourself” in Tampa Bay. While Cover realizes it sounds cliché, he said putting the customer first and doing “everything in your power to over-deliver” led to the couple earning a “good name in a great area.” 

Cover recently partnered with a global payment platform to expand internationally. Businesses in over 190 countries can now use 1PriceSwipes.

However, Cover reiterated that most of the company’s support and success stems from Tampa and St. Pete. “That’s really our bread and butter, and it will continue to be so.”

Cover said his desire to compete with Stripe led to the recent expansion. The company boasts millions of clients, including Google and Amazon. 

“Yes, it’s an audacious approach to go ahead and try to jump in and take their business, but we’re doing it right now,” Cover said. “It’s such an abundant business.” 

He plans to “cast a very wide net” and believes 1PriceSwipes can earn “some much bigger accounts.” Cover said he is “really working hard to put the right people in place so we can scale up.” 

The overarching goal is to offer a product for every type of business. Cover also stressed the importance of surrounding himself with “really smart people.”

He said onboarding the new global payment technology has allowed him to “concentrate on talent and opportunity.” Cover has six salaried employees and a “couple hundred” independent contractors nationwide. 

“So, it’s not hard to scale,” he continued. “All we have to do is offer something conducive to their (contractor’s) needs. They want to make money, and they want to make it passively, and they want to be with a company with no barrier to entry.” 

Cover noted that a new point-of-sale product allows 1PriceSwipes to process over 100 cryptocurrencies and 20 stablecoins. A Ferrari dealership’s repair shop in Fort Lauderdale is a recent client. 

While he initially “wasn’t much of a believer” in digital currency, Cover expects more and more people to make purchases with crypto in the coming years. “Even when it starts, it’s not going to wipe out Visa or Mastercard or traditional processing, but I do think it’s coming.” 

Cover also has a burgeoning relationship with 360 Eats. The local nonprofit rescues food that would have gone to waste and repurposes it into nutritious, chef-prepared meals, served at no cost to residents facing food insecurity. 

“I want to take a portion of our profits from every single account we have and allocate it to them,” Cover said. “And I thought to myself, once I can get going on this, I think I can help him scale more donations by getting in touch with other fintech companies that I know nationally. I just feel like it’s time for me to step up to the plate.”