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SparkBase LLC, a stored-value processing company, announced today it has signed an agreement with Inspiron Logistics Corp., a text-messaging company, that will enable SparkBase to offer Short Message Service products to merchants and independent sales organizations. Cleveland-based SparkBase processes gift card and reward transactions for about two dozen ISOs, Douglas Hardman, SparkBase founder and CEO, tells CardLine. The agreement will enable SparkBase's clients to send marketing text messages and special offers to consumers via cell phone, Hardman says. SparkBase has enabled consumers to use text messages to check their balances for about six months and decided to add additional services to help ISOs' merchant clients send targeted offers, he says. "Let's say they were having a slow day and wanted to get people" into their stores, Hardman says of the merchant clients. "They could send a text out to 1,000 or 2,000 cardholders," he says. "Within five minutes, they've reached directly into the pockets of their customers." He estimates SparkBase processes transaction for 4 million cardholders. "Whatever someone defines as stored value, we can pretty much do it," Hardman says of SparkBase's processing services. The company processes card transactions in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Panama, he says.
