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Capital on Tap, a British company that provides credit cards for small businesses, is setting up a U.S. headquarters in Atlanta that will eventually hire 150 people.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development announced the new investment while Commissioner Pat Wilson was traveling in London on a recruitment trip.
Mr. Wilson and a sizable contingent of Georgians were in the United Kingdom capital starting Sunday, when the Atlanta Falcons eked out a victory over the New York Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London in the rare regular season National Football League game played across the pond.
Capital on Tap plans to hire 50 people in metro Atlanta by the end of this year, tacking on 100 more by the end of 2022. Its current office has 15 employees at Ponce City Market, though the news release say whether it would expand there or seek a new space.
The company, whose Visa credit cards are issued by WebBank, aims to help small and medium-sized businesses more conveniently handle business expenses. Building on strong growth in Europe, the goal is to provide $2 billion in funding in the U.S. over the next 18 months. That’s half the amount it has provided to more than 120,000 British businesses since the company launched in 2012, illustrating the company’s ambitious plans for the larger U.S. market.
“We chose Atlanta as our U.S. headquarters because of its reputation as a fintech and payments hub,” said Zoë Newman, U.S. managing director for Capital on Tap. “There is a depth of talent and experience here that will be invaluable to our continued hyper growth in the U.S.”
Ms. Newman, who heads up international expansion, was one of the company’s first employees and its first hired directly out of college. She noted that local universities in metro Atlanta provide an “incredible recruiting ground” to support Capital on Tap’s growth.
Capital on Tap launched in the U.S. just in March. The standard credit card is fee-free and provides unlimited 1 percent cash back, while a premium founder card includes 2 percent cash back and an annual fee that currently is being waived for the life of the account through an introductory offer.