The Finextra Twitterview - Atlanta FinTech Universe

• When: Augist 18th, 2010, 10:00 EDT (15:00 BST)
  
• Where: Follow @Finextra and @kpetralia, @simEngine, @johnbhayes, @SBatTTV, @atlantapayments, @steve_atl, @MelanieBrandt, @DCoxATL and @tjsweeney.
  
• Hashtag: #finxlive

As some of you know, I'm on Twitter (@LizLum). One day, @tjsweeney (Tim Sweeney, Founder/MD of FinTech Partners) posted that his home base of Atlanta, Georgia was in fact the 'payments capital of the universe!' or some such words to that effect.

Atlanta? I thought. Doesn't Tim mean New York where all the international banks are? Or Chicago, the US birthplace of risk management? Or even Charlotte, North Carolina the home of Wachovia and the rise of the super regional US bank?

No, Atlanta, in Georgia (it's in the South, above Florida, but below Tennessee, for those of you not in the US.) Tim politely ignored my Yankee bias and explained.

Georgia Tech (an engineering University) has a well established financial technology programme, this coupled with Georgia's restrictive banking regulations (as opposed to say, North Carolina's) gave rise to a growing tech development population with few banks to work in. This combined with a lower cost of living in Atlanta (say, compared to New York or California) made Georgia fertile ground for a rash of entrepreneurial start-ups. Most of which, say Tim, are focused on payments and core banking technology.

A recent blog claims that Georgia now has 93 financial technology companies. These companies generate $34B in annual revenues, which makes Georgia one of the top three centres in the country for financial technology.

When I heard that I thought, 'I need to find out more'. My thoughts soon turned towards the Finextra Twitterview. If Atlanta is the payments capital of the Universe, then the FinTech Universe needs to know more.

I huge thanks must go out to Tim Sweeney for gathering up a group of people, all involved in financial technology in the Peach Tree State, who are willing to take part in this discussion. Thank you, Tim.

This fourth Finextra Twitterview will be our largest yet. As of now, we have nine Atlanta-based financial technology professionals ready and waiting to take part on the event. I have put together a list of questions, but this Twitterview may have a more conversational, and non-linear, timeline than earlier Twitterviews. (Despite all the self-appointed Twitter gurus and experts out there, Twitter is new to everyone - rules are fluid with the new and shiny, I say)

So the best way to watch, read and interact is to follow all on the discussion and, of course, follow the hashtag #finxlive.

Our Atlanta FinTech Universe Twitterview includes the following:

• John Hayes (@johnbhayes): Currently starting FinTech Strategy, has founded many fintech companies, most recently FTRANS. A founder of ATDC (Advanced Technology Development Center), the Georgia Tech incubator.

• Sean Banks (@SBatTTV): VC at TTV, a local VC firm focused on fintech. Early investor in Green Dot, among many others.

• Kevin Lee (@atlantapayments): Former CEO of Skylight (prepaid) through sale to NetSpend.

• Steve Karp (@steve_atl): EVP payments strategy at SunTrust.

• Kathryn Petralia (@kpetralia): Current co-founder at Kabbage, previously with Revolution Money.

• Melanie Brandt (@MelanieBrandt): COO of TAG (Technology Association of Georgia), a local org that is integral to the tech community.

• Michael Sorensen (@simEngine): Founder/CEO of Simatra - (optimized code, FPGAs and such for HFT & quant strategies).

• Deborah Cox (@DCoxATL): Serves as Secretary of the TAG FinTech Society and leads the Society's Marketing and PR efforts.
  

• Tim Sweeney (@tjsweeney): Founder/MD of FinTech Partners, an M&A and bus-dev services firm.

So follow us all, remember to follow @Finextra and the #finxlive hashtag on Wednesday, August 18 at 9:00 am EDT (US time). We shall all have virtual iced teas on the veranda afterwards.