A fintech company has made a significant investment into Georgia Tech's Advanced Technology Development Center.
Elavon, a global payments provider and subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp has made a three-year commitment to help fuel the growth of fintech companies and support of entrepreneurs at ATDC, the state's incubator. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
Elavon executives will also participate in the mentorship role at ATDC to teach entrepreneurs the ins-and-outs of fintech, covering topics such as software and applications integration to consultation and market strategies, according to a news release. Partnerships with sponsors and the entrepreneurs in the program, ATDC believes, are essentially for early-stage companies to acquire customers and work on business model development.
“Our investment in this program and local fintech companies brings us closer to the growing technology community in Atlanta and across the entire payments ecosystem, and is part of Elavon’s continued focus on integrated payments and ecommerce,” Wally Mlynarski, Elavon’s chief product officer, said in a statement. “With this partnership, we are able to directly impact and shape the future of payments as technology and business models continue to rapidly evolve.”
According to ATDC, program participants in the incubator's fintech program are integrated into the states fintech ecosystem---commonly known as Transaction Alley for the significant amount of banking, fintech and payment providers in the city. ATDC's fintech program provides access to the industry, investors and Georgia Tech resources, as well as additional support from the Technology Association of Georgia, FinTech Atlanta and the Metro Atlanta Chamber.
“We’re extremely excited to welcome Elavon as our partner in further developing Georgia’s early-stage FinTech startup community,” Jeff Gapusan, ATDC’s fintech executive-in-residence who secured the sponsorship, said. “Elavon is a world-class financial technology company. Its resources, mentorship, and insight will enable startup founders to also succeed in this highly complex space.”
Thirty-five early-stage fintech startups are enrolled in the ATDC fintech program. Since the program launched in 2015, ATDC fintech startups and recent graduates have raised more than $65 million in angel and VC funding.
