Atlanta, June 22, 2021 – Despite the challenge of the pandemic, Georgia’s fintech ecosystem continued to thrive and innovate during the past 18 months. The number of fintech firms rose to more than 200 in 2021, employing more than 39,000 people and providing a significant boost to the state’s economy. At the same time, fintech venture capital funding this year is on pace to exceed last year’s total of nearly $1 billion.
Those are just a few highlights from the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) updated 2021 market report for the Fintech ecosystem in Georgia, which was released today. The TAG Fintech Ecosystem Report is the most comprehensive and authoritative overview of the ecosystem that makes Georgia a global center for fintech, transactions and innovation. This year’s edition provides insights into the trends, companies, organizations and academic institutions that work together to build these critical capabilities. The 2021 Fintech Ecosystem Report is delivered in conjunction with the opening of Fintech South, an annual conference held June 22-24, 2021.
The Georgia fintech ecosystem in May 2021 is comprised of 201 technology companies—up from 170 last year. Together, the Georgia-based fintech community employs more than 39,000 professionals. To be on the TAG Fintech company list, an organization must be headquartered in Georgia or have a significant business presence in the state, thus making a positive contribution to the Georgia economy. Fintech companies drive technology that support financial services disciplines including payments, gateways, online lending, risk management and associated businesses. Of the 33 public companies included on our ecosystem map, the 12 formally headquartered in Georgia alone generated more than $37 billion in 2020 revenue and had a combined year-end market capitalization of $192 billion.
“As we fought off COVID-19 around the world, our fintech community accelerated the move toward contactless payments and further removed friction points from our financial systems,” said Larry Williams, CEO of TAG.
The report reflects a dynamic ecosystem responding to surging digitization and automation in global financial markets. In the first five months of 2021, there were 10 fintech acquisitions and 4 funding events in Georgia of at least $5 million. That compares to nine fintech acquisitions and seven funding events in 2020.
“As the global economies continues to recover, we anticipate the acquisition of talented companies will continue, as well as much needed capital investments throughout the fintech community,” said Sean Banks, Partner at TTV Capital, and Chair of the TAG Fintech Society.
Georgia-based fintech companies received venture capital and third-party equity funding of close to $1 billion in 2020. “This trend has continued in 2021, with investment capital funding of more than $400 million reported through May alone,” added Banks.
Merger & Acquisition transactions as of May 2021
- Fiserv acquires Ondot Systems.
- NCR announced acquisition of Cardtronics for $2.5 billion (transaction pending).
- Priority Technology Holdings to merge with Finxera Holdings.
- Deluxe acquires First American Payments for $960 million.
- Cardlytics purchases DOSH for $275 million.
- Repay acquiring Billing Tree for $503 million.
- Global Payments acquired Zego for $925 million.
- Jack Henry acquires Stackfolio.
- Equifax Acquires Kount.
- Monotto acquired by Horicon Bank.
Funding events more than $5 million and IPO transactions as of May 2021
- Lending Point receives $125 million preferred equity investment from Warburg Pincus.
- Medxoom lands $8 million investment.
- Greenwood closes $40 million in Series A financing led by Truist Ventures.
- Bakkt announced plans to go public via a SPAC by merging with Impact Acquisition Holdings with an expected valuation of $2.1 billion.
“As we stated in the 2020 TAG Fintech Ecosystem Report, fintech technology that was predicted to be adopted in five years is now on track to be embraced in mere months,” said Williams. “And this has been equally true so far in 2021. Fortunately, fintech companies were in the right place at a very difficult time. The computing backbone, network systems, and data security standards were ready to handle the substantial increase in transaction volume as people and companies moved to the internet to take care of their business.”
About TAG
TAG’s mission is to Connect, Promote, Influence and Educate Georgia’s technology ecosystem to advance the innovation economy. Through those four foundational strategies TAG serves the technology community, helping to support, grow and ignite tech leaders, companies and the overall Georgia economy. TAG serves more than 31,000 members statewide through regional chapters in Metro Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon/Middle Georgia, and Savannah. TAG hosts more than 150 events each year and serves as an umbrella organization for 20+ professional societies. TAG provides networking and educational programs, celebrates Georgia’s technology leaders and companies, and advocates for legislative action that enhances the state’s economic climate for technology.
Additionally, the TAG Education Collaborative (TAG-Ed) focuses on helping science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education initiatives thrive. For more information visit the TAG website at www.tagonline.org. For more information visit the TAG website at www.tagonline.org.
