TheDeal.com - PreCash links with $10M

"Seven years after its establishment, profitable electronic payment provider PreCash Inc. of Houston has raised $10 million in its first institutional round of venture funding.
Austin Ventures LP of Austin, Texas, supplied all of the capital in the round. Senior vice president of marketing Randy Templeton said PreCash received offers from multiple venture firms, including several who wanted to invest more than $10 million.
PreCash chose Austin Ventures' offer after discussing the deal with about a dozen firms, Templeton said. He would not discuss the specific terms of the deal or the company's valuation.
'Austin Ventures had done some investing in this space already,' said Templeton. 'We had no particular connections with them beforehand, but they emerged as the most attractive investor out of the several offers we received.'
PreCash had previously been funded by a large number of individual investors. Templeton said that the company has 'a couple of hundred shareholders' who have provided capital since its inception.
Although PreCash has been cash flow positive for about two years, the company chose to add outside funding in order to expand internationally. Templeton said the company is close to its first partnership outside the U.S., and could make an announcement regarding a deal within a few weeks.
PreCash posted $15.1 million in revenues during 2004, up 28% from the previous year's $11.8 million. The company turned a profit of more than $33,000 in 2004, and had an accumulated deficit of about $47.5 million at year's end."