FIS acquires Payrix as new President Stephanie Ferris takes over
Payrix specializes in enabling SaaS-based platforms to embed payments and financial technology into their offerings to enhance the payments experience for SMBs.
FIS has acquired Atlanta-based, Payrix, to expand its e-commerce offerings to companies of all sizes, and in any industry, by embedding payments capabilities within Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms.
The payments giant will leverage Payrix to deliver embedded finance capabilities in addition to its e-commerce offerings to small- and medium- sized businesses (SMBs).
Founded in 2015, Payrix was acquired from an investor group led by Blue Star Innovation Partners, a Dallas-based investment fund and Providence Strategic Growth (PSG), the growth equity affiliate of global asset management firm Providence Equity Partners.
Payrix boasts capabilities that will help FIS quickly expand into new market segments, especially the high growth SMB e-commerce segment.
The fintech features fully digital and automated onboarding, compliance, billing, and settlement. Payrix specializes in enabling SaaS-based platforms to embed payments and financial technology into their offerings to enhance the payments experience for SMBs.
Ex-Worldpay Stephanie Ferris named President
Stephanie Ferris, President, FIS, said: “Since acquiring Worldpay in 2019, FIS continues to expand its strategic payments capabilities and offerings in global e-commerce. Bringing the Payrix capabilities inside FIS enables us to continue our journey of serving e-commerce as well as platform companies.
“The acquisition of Payrix is an excellent proof point of FIS’ ability to unlock the value of our broad portfolio of solutions as companies of all sizes rely on FIS as a destination for innovation to advance how the world pays, banks and invests.”
This is the first FIS announcement since Stephanie Ferris was appointed President, after just a few months in her latest role as FIS Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).
She joined the company through its 2019 acquisition of Worldpay where she served as Chief Financial Officer and until September 2021 she was the Chief Operating Officer at FIS. As COO, she led the integration of Worldpay into FIS, surpassing both revenue and cost synergy commitments.
As Chief Administrative Officer, she led a global team responsible for the company’s enterprise strategy, finance, mergers and acquisitions, legal, marketing and communications, risk, information security, and compliance functions.
Stephanie Ferris spent most of her career at Worldpay, even though it was branded as Vantiv throughout most of that period. Now part of FIS, Worldpay continues to expand and has recently partnered with Crypto.com to be a global validator and operator for the Crypto.org Chain.
FIS processes over $2 trillion in transactions annually across over 100 countries in numerous payments types and currencies. The company is an experienced Card-to-Crypto processor, which provides services for 4 of the top 5 cryptocurrency exchanges, and has recently announced a number of cryptocurrency-focused initiatives in its mission to advance the way the world pays, banks and invests.
