TTV Capital, an Atlanta-based fintech venture capital firm, has tapped a veteran in the payments space as a new Venture Partner.
Paul Todd most recently served as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at transaction processing giant Global Payments, a Fortune 500 company based in Atlanta. After working at the public company, Todd told Hypepotamus that he was excited to write his next career chapter in venture capital.
As Todd steps into his new role at TTV Capital, we asked him a few questions about his career and what energizes him about the fintech venture space.
Get to know a bit about his views on the fintech through this Q&A:
QUESTION: Looking back at your career in finance and your time at Global Payments, what are some moments you would consider as career highlights?
ANSWER: My biggest career highlight was when Global Payments and TSYS merged in 2019. Leveraging the strengths of both companies enabled us to gain critical scale and strategic positioning in the payments and software space. I also consider the other acquisitions at Global Payments and TSYS to be special in that each one played a unique role in allowing for entry into new markets and/or geographies, adding new products or services and additional scale, and providing for additional growth.
Overall, though, my most important career highlight was working with great people. My teammates at Global Payments were more than colleagues; they were my friends. Without them, I would have never been successful.
Q: When did you start thinking about a move into venture?
A: After I retired from Global Payments, I took a few months off to recharge and reflect on what I wanted to do next. I evaluated what would allow me to leverage my years of experience in payments and software, but also provide opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Throughout my career, I’ve appreciated the value of technological differentiation in the fintech marketplace. Most of my experience has been with larger-scale applications, and my roles for the last decade of my career did not allow me to spend significant time on venture and emerging technology. But I’ve always had a special respect for the building and innovation that occurs at these earlier stages, and I’m energized by what I’ve seen from fintech startups. That’s why venture capital felt like the right fit for me.
Q: What drew you to the team at TTV Capital?
A: I’ve known the team at TTV Capital for a long time, and I’ve consistently been impressed by their approach to venture capital. The firm’s reputation, long-standing tenure, performance in fintech investing, differentiated approach to working with portfolio companies and strategic partners, and their unique culture of true partnerships really set them apart.
Now that I’ve been on board, I’ve seen firsthand how TTV focuses on building business partnerships and not just approaching the market with just a quantitative approach. Plus, their long-term experience in fintech is a critical differentiator as they have built a unique reputation as a “partner of choice” in this space. It’s been an honor to join the team and help contribute to their success.
Q: Are there specific Fintech sectors / categories you are particularly interested in here in 2023? What makes them interesting at this moment in time?
I’ve spent most of my career in software and payments, but I’m also very interested in data and user experience, and the unique opportunities that come from blending them together. There are so many ways to leverage data, but it can be inaccessible if the user experience is clunky or difficult to navigate. I’m excited to learn more about how our portfolio companies execute on data and make the user experience intuitive and seamless. Those are big differentiators for me.
Q: What are some of the qualities you first look for in a fintech founder?
A: While there are many dynamics in any investment decision, we always look at people, technology, and the market in which the company operates. These three are co-dependent, and it’s important to balance how we evaluate them together.
As it relates to the qualities that I look for in a fintech founder, it’s important to recognize that each opportunity has its own characteristics; we don’t take a cookie-cutter approach to evaluating founders. However, I always ask about a founder’s knowledge of their business and the space in which they operate, their ability to clearly articulate how and why they are building their company, their background, their experience and reputation in the market in which they operate, and, ultimately, their passion for their company’s success.
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TTV Capital in the Southeast’s Fintech Scene
TTV Capital closed a $250 million oversubscribed fund earlier this year, the sixth fund in the firm’s history.
While TTV Capital looks at investment opportunities across the globe, the Southeast’s fintech ecosystem is well represented in its portfolio. Since 2022, TTV Capital has invested in companies like Carputty (Atlanta), Foro (Charlotte), Greenwood Bank (Atlanta), Payabli (Miami), Medxoom (Atlanta), Ledgible (Atlanta), and Grifin (Tampa).
Greenlight and Cardlytics, two other Atlanta-based companies in their portfolio, have gone onto reach unicorn status or IPO.
