Adam Alphin and Owen Hill caught more than they set out to when they were fly fishing at a friend’s farm pond in Suffolk in late 2019.

That was the day the first cousins spawned the idea for their financial technology company, Kleer Card.

“Certainly, the pandemic gave us some space to really think through, start planning and doing some building,” Alphin said.

Headquartered in Suffolk with seven remote employees, the firm provides physical or virtual charge cards and its app-based platform enables small businesses and nonprofits to manage expenses and their corporate card spending.

The platform has attracted 500 customers since launching in January. Alphin and Hill bootstrapped the startup initially but closed on a $50 million debt facility in late November to help fund customer credit lines and further grow the business.

Alphin, a Suffolk native, honed his skills leading product management for a Silicon Valley software firm. He commuted monthly, for six years, to San Francisco.

“It felt like the timing was right to build a product … really focused on small businesses,” Alphin said.

Hill, whose parents and extended family also live in Suffolk, calls Colorado Springs, Colorado, home. A former Colorado state senator, Hill studied economics at the Air Force Academy and earned his doctorate in economics with a focus in finance.

And it was through his experience as a small-business owner dealing with what he called the “nightmare of corporate credit cards” that the idea came to him.

“Admit it, corporate credit cards are broken for small business owners like us,” Hill said in a video on Getkleercard.com. “It’s hard to get the credit you need, difficult to manage and expense reports are the absolute worst.”

Kleer Card’s customizable cards, including fuel cards, streamline operations by connecting directly to the business owner’s bank account and accounting system that in turn enables the owner to control employees’ spending and track their expenses in real time.

Generated through a partnership with Visa, Kleer Card makes a small portion of every transaction as part of a standard fee.

“Small business is the backbone of the American economy; we’re the ones creating the majority of jobs out there,” Hill said. “ … As a small-business owner myself, I wanted to create the tools needed to build a strong business in uncertain times like these.”

Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@insidebiz.com