[ad_1]
Well before Capital on Tap opened its downtown Atlanta office, the London-based fintech startup already had deep roots in the city.
Co-founder and CEO David Luck is an Emory graduate. Chief Operating Officer Damian Brichy grew up in Metro Atlanta and holds degrees from both Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia Law School.
Brachi was just on holiday in 2014 when he met the Capital on Tap team in a London pub. By the end of the evening, he had a job offer and decided to move to London to join what at the time was a small startup trying to make waves in the small business credit card space.
Capital on Tap has grown significantly since Brychcy joined the team. While the startup started out selling small business loans, in 2017 it launched a small business credit card optionowners looking for better payment services. Brychcy told Hypepotamus that it has dramatically increased its customer base and growth trajectory.
After years of building Capital on Tap in London, Brychcy has returned to Atlanta and is helping to lead the build-out of the team’s American hub.
Joining Brychcy in the US is Zoe Newmanwho served as head of partnerships and head of international expansion before assuming the role of US managing director for Capital on Tap.
Both Brachy and Newman said the startup is focused on changing the relationship small businesses have with their banking and credit providers.
“Historically, banks have put small businesses at the bottom of the pile when it comes to building new products and new features,” Newman said. “The feedback we received from [those small businesses] it takes a really long time to apply for credit cards, the credit limits offered are often too low and they often wait a very long time to speak to someone…We save small businesses time and make them focus on what they are good at.”
Atlanta Tap Team Capital
Since opening its Atlanta office in April of this year, the team has grown to a team of 50 people. Bryci said Capital on Tap isn’t necessarily looking to recruit people with 20 years of experience in financial services. Instead, he’s looking for people who are willing to work hard, want to pilot new initiatives and have a “tendency to take action.”
The London and UK centers will still house the core finance and development teams, but Atlanta will be home to business operations, analysts and customer experience teams.
The team recently raised $200 million in private equity funding from Minnesota-based Värde Partners and HSBC to help facilitate international expansion efforts.
The team is expanding at a time when many consumer-facing startups are bracing for an uncertain economic climate. BrexThe San Francisco-based fintech giant announced earlier this month that it was divesting all of its small business accounts to focus on tech-focused startup clients.
But Brychcy said the U.S. expansion is a way for Capital on Tap to serve more small businesses and prove the startup’s new approach to credit cards.
“The business was really struggling to serve small businesses. They are really hard to market because they are not an individual consumer and they are not a corporation. If you’re selling something like software to a CMO, you send them a message on LinkedIn. If you’re chatting with a user, you can buy Instagram ads. But how do you find small business owners? It’s really hard,” Brichy added. “We’re looking at traditional banking and credit cards and asking ourselves … what if we made that experience better?”
Connected
[ad_2]
Source link