Business marketing company Fivestars to expand into El Paso

A Silicon Valley startup is expanding to El Paso, bringing with it more than 50 jobs, announced city officials Tuesday.

Fivestars, a business marketing company, announced it will hire more than 50 people over the next three months in El Paso. The announcement came during Tuesday’s city council meeting.

City officials say the company chose to open an office in El Paso as a significant base for growing its operations.

Fivestars states that its goal is to help local communities thrive by serving the local businesses. The average pay will be around $40,000.

Fivestars helps small and medium businesses develop a customer loyalty network. It uses merchant POS systems to give consumers a single card to earn store-specific rewards.

The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

The presentation given at City Hall Tuesday states it will work with the Borderplex Alliance to source employment. The company will work to retain a minimum of 90 percent, or 46, of its employees annually

Fivestars was founded in 2011 by Victor Ho and Matt Doka who, after working together at the management consulting firm, McKinsey, saw an opportunity to bring Fortune 500-quality rewards and marketing technology to local businesses. It has raised over $105 million in venture capital funding.

Matt Doka, an El Paso native, was interested in establishing a large office in El Paso because of the quality of talent there and El Paso’s thriving local business community.

Co-founder and CEO Victor Ho said, “We’re excited to establish an operational hub for our company in El Paso, a city which loves local businesses and has an abundant talent pool to support our long-term goal to help small businesses everywhere turn transactions into relationships.”

Mayor of El Paso Dee Margo said, “El Paso continues to succeed in attracting company after company. Fivestars’ move to El Paso speaks to our economic successes and our talented workforce. We look forward to partnering with Fivestars’ in their relocation to the El Paso market.”

Co-founder, and CTO Matt Doka said, “Being born and raised in El Paso, it’s an amazing opportunity to return to put El Paso on the map as a city that Silicon Valley should look to for talent and quality of life for its employees.”

Borderplex Alliance CEO Jon Barela said, “This is the start of something special. The arrival of Fivestars is symbolic of the Borderplex region’s new found confidence and direction. We are competing and winning at attracting high wage, high skill industries to the region.”

Workforce Solutions Borderplex CEO Joyce Wilson said, “I’m pleased the Texas Workforce Commission is making Skills Development Funding available to Fivestars. This will help ensure that El Paso’s workforce receives the customized training needed to succeed in the highly competitive technology sector.”

Officials said most of the company’s hiring in El Paso will occur in inside sales, customer support, and operations.

Qualified candidates interested in working at Fivestars can apply online at http://www.fivestars.com/team/careers/.