INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Clay Wilkes had already been retired for six years when he launched Galileo Financial Services in 2000.The serial entrepreneur, who had been
an early pioneer in telecommunications technologies (like voice over internet protocols), saw the need for better connectivity between
secondary services and financial institutions 19 years ago, just as new digital services around payroll processing, transit vouchers, store
cards and other services were launching.Now the company runs the backend integrations with financial institutions for some of the biggest
names in financial technology and has just raised $77 million in financing from Accel Partners.Not that Galileo necessarily needed the money
The company has been profitable for years since its bootstrapped beginnings and counts fintech giants like Chime Banking, Robinhood, Monzo
and TransferWise among its customers
In fact, the debit and credit card service provider will process nearly $26 billion in financing by the end of the year, according to the
company.For financial services companies that are launching these days there are a few ways to get to market quickly
One is to partner with a financial institution that will handle the money for them in accounts that are FDIC assured; the other is to become
and credit cards that a huge portion of the world relies on to buy things.Accel partner John Locke, who is joining the Galileo board of
directors, calls the company almost the flip side of the Braintree and Stripe investments that power transactions for most online
merchants.Rather than focus on the companies that are taking online orders and processing payments, Galileo deals with the consumers who are
spending the money and powers the ways in which companies are trying to offer new services to get those consumers to switch from traditional
and managing accounts, authorizing merchant transactions, monitoring fraud, initiating disputes and chargebacks, being able to configure
use the money it has raised
The Salt Lake City-based startup is planning to greatly expand its geographical reach beyond North America
In fact, the company plans to open an office in Mexico City in the coming months to service new Latin American business.Meanwhile, it
already has something of a stranglehold on the market in the United Kingdom
to build a quiet, profitable powerhouse and now, ready to go big globally
