Mercato Partners Traverse Fund Portfolio Company, Galileo Financial Technologies, Acquired by SoFi for $1.2 Billion

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (April 7, 2020) – Mercato Partners Traverse Fund (“Traverse”), today announced that Social Finance (“SoFi”) has acquired one of its Growth Fund II portfolio companies, Galileo Financial Technologies (“Galileo”), a thriving API standard for card-issuing programs and financial technology (“fintech”) innovation. SoFi, the digital personal finance company, confirmed the signing of its definitive agreement to acquire Galileo Financial Technologies for $1.2 billion early this morning.

Galileo, a fintech leader whose sophisticated API-based enterprise payments platform helps run companies like Chime, Revolut, Transferwise, Monzo, and Remitly, has grown rapidly by providing the building blocks for the world’s most innovative payment programs. It is a flexible and dynamic platform, handling thousands of financial transactions daily for a total of $30 billion in payments annually. The world’s leading fintech companies choose Galileo’s platform in a variety of use cases, including challenger banking, lending, consumer payments, commercial payments, gig economy applications, and investing solutions.

“To excel in the growth stage, a CEO and leadership team must be able to envision and execute at a level of innovation and ambition others might not even imagine,” said Mercato Partners Managing Director and Galileo Board member, Greg Warnock. “They must be hungry for large scale problem-solving and provide the energy and direction to fuel exponential growth. The CEO, in particular, must convey a strong vision and display an ongoing, unrelenting commitment to excellence. Clay Wilkes absolutely fits that profile and has done a world-class job of leading Galileo. We congratulate Clay and the entire Galileo team and look forward to the continued pace of innovation and value Galileo will bring to SFi customers.”

Traverse initially partnered with Galileo in a Series A in May 2014. Galileo used the investment to support an aggressive growth roadmap and bolster its go-to-market efforts. Beginning with product innovation, Galileo developed and shared its APIs to enable fintech companies and developers to build on its open platform. This expanded Galileo’s client base to include financial institutions and investment firms, drove organic growth, and elevated operating margins. Galileo further fortified its technology leadership position by developing an AI-driven fraud protection solution, using deep learning to generate even more accuracy in fraud detection. Since its launch, users have reduced and remediated payment fraud loss by 80% over the industry standard.

Backed by global investors Silver Lake, QIA, Softbank, GGV, and IVP,  SoFi helps people achieve financial independence by providing a broad suite of financial services including online student loans, personal and home loans, personal investing options, high yield bank accounts, and insurance products. Mobile-first SoFi has more than 10 million registered users, has funded more than $30 billion in loans, and has saved its members more than $1.5 billion to date. Galileo will help power SoFi’s mission to challenge the status quo and transform the financial services industry. Together, SoFi and Galileo will focus on its members and help them get their money right.

The investment in Galileo reflects Traverse’s strategy in three ways. First, Galileo’s success is evidence that entrepreneurs can build market-leading businesses and technology in underserved geographies. Second, Traverse’s investment and performance teams provide strategic direction, operational support, and best practices in the areas most critical to maximizing growth: sales, marketing, human capital, customer success, and leadership. Finally, Galileo exhibits best-in-class organic revenue growth rates due to its innovation and execution. Traverse is honored by its partnership with Galileo and congratulates the entire Galileo team on their dedication to reach such a meaningful accomplishment. 

About Mercato Partners

Mercato Partners is a multi-practice firm providing both capital and guidance to founders and companies in a range of stages. The Traverse Fund is Mercato’s growth-stage practice, founded in 2007. Traverse brings decades of stage-specific experience via a team of investors and in-house performance operators who combine forces with an extended network to accelerate growth and create lasting enterprise value. For more information, please visit www.mercatopartners.com. 

About Galileo Financial Technologies

Based in Salt Lake City, Galileo is the API standard for card-issuing programs. The payments technology company powers the world’s most innovative card and fintech programs in North America. For more information, please visit Galileo at www.galileo-FT.com.

About SoFi, Inc.

SoFi helps people achieve financial independence to realize their ambitions. Our products for borrowing, saving, spending, investing, and protecting give our more than one million members fast access to tools to get their money right. SoFi membership comes with the key essentials for getting ahead, including career advisors and connection to a thriving community of like-minded, ambitious people. For more information, please visit www.SoFi.com.