The ACI-S1 marriage might have consummated this week, but don’t think FundTech, which had recently been courted by S1, views itself as being left at the alter. On the contrary, FundTech sees its deal with GTCR last month as a boon for the company.
Before you start the “what else would FundTech say,” hear them out.
To review, FundTech was the target of a takeover by S1 last summer until ACI came along and bid on S1 late in the summer. Meanwhile, FundTech found a buyer in GTCR, a private equity firm that owns BankServ.
George Ravich, FundTech’s marketing director, told Bank Innovation recently that the S1-ACI-GTCR dance was nothing short of a “soap opera,” and that FundTech is relieved to see it over. Moreover, Ravich said GTCR offers FundTech some unique benefits, most notably that FundTech does not have to invest for quarterly returns – being that GTCR is privately held – and can instead focus on “investing strategically.”
With BankServ, FundTech goes from being a $150 million company to a $220 million company, in terms of annual revenue.
“We now have the platform for significant growth,” Ravich said. “The value is in combining with a leading company to invest in new products. The early evidence is that [GTCR] wants to nurture us.”
And there are new products to nurture. FundTech is pushing electronic check presentment, and wants to offer the ability to facilitate credit within electronic invoices. Additionally, it is reworking its products into a singular “transaction banking” platform structured as service-oriented architechture (SOA). Ravich said FundTech is undertaking the project with Bank of America. And with GTCR, as it turns out.