RICHMOND - The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) today announced the acceptance of an Albemarle County company, PunchOut2Go, into its two-year Virginia Leaders in Export Trade (VALET) program as part of the 32nd class. Launched in January 2002, the program assists exporters in the Commonwealth that have firmly established domestic operations and are committed to international exporting as an expansion strategy. To participate, each eligible business must meet several quantitative criteria and complete an application process. Participating firms are chosen based on their dedication to growing their export sales. To date, 291 Virginia companies have been accepted to participate in the VALET program.

“The VALET program puts participating companies on the fast track to international business growth by connecting them with the necessary tools for successful export sales,” said Paul Grossman, VEDP Vice President of International Trade at VEDP. “Since its inception in 2002, the program has worked with more than 290 businesses to accelerate their international sales growth. We are happy to welcome PunchOut2Go to VALET and look forward to working with them over the course of the next two years.”

Currently, the VALET program has 50 companies as participants. New participants in the program have access to $30,000 in reimbursement funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia. The program provides participating companies with export planning services and assistance from a team of experienced international service providers to help meet their international goals. These private sector service providers contribute essential expertise to assist companies in executing their export initiatives and include attorneys, web designers, bankers, translators, accountants and freight forwarders.

PunchOut2Go began working with VEDP through the Virginia International Trade Alliance (VITAL) program. The company received international market research through VITAL partner George Mason University to determine market opportunities for expansion.

The Commonwealth of Virginia exports more than $35 billion in goods and services annually. Exports of Virginia’s products and services to the world are vital to the growth of the Commonwealth, supporting more than 230,000 jobs and generating $2 billion in tax revenue. VEDP offers numerous programs to assist Virginia companies with selling into the global marketplace and has a network of international market research consultants covering more than 70 countries around the globe.

PunchOut2Go

PunchOut2Go is a cloud-based platform-as-a-service software company. The company provides cloud based products and professional services to enable businesses of any size to integrate their existing eCommerce infrastructure to their customers' spend management systems. This allows vendors to sell products and services and transact business-to-business documents electronically. For more information, please visit www.punchout2go.com.

Virginia Economic Development Partnership

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1995 to encourage, stimulate, and support the development and expansion of the economy of the Commonwealth. To accomplish its objectives of promoting economic expansion within the Commonwealth, the Partnership focuses its efforts on business recruitment, expansion and international trade.

For more information on the VALET Program, visit http://exportvirginia.org/valet-program/.