British Fintech Lands in Atlanta on Quest to Turn Transactions Into Action 

In many ways, Atlanta was a no-brainer for British fintech ekko, which officially launched its U.S. office here Thursday. 

Its solution is embedded into transactions processed by the same payments giants whose presence and prevalence have given Georgia the “Transaction Alley” moniker.

But other American hubs also have fintech ecosystems; where Atlanta stood out was with a commitment to collective growth that ekko says is foundational to its own company culture. 

“The big thing for me was that the community approach is totally different,” said co-founder and CEO Oli Cook, contrasting Atlanta’s pitch with others he heard during Grow London Global missions and other trips.

Other cities explained why they were the undisputed best landing spot for the U.S. market.

“Whereas here in Atlanta, everyone said, ‘We want you here, how can we can help?’” Mr. Cook said. “It just spoke to the community, and the more you spend time here, the more you realize there is that community feel of everyone wanting to thrive together, help each other out, figure out problems together.” 

That sentiment jelled with ekko, which wants its people to be as embedded in local communities as its solution is in the checkout journey. And it’s starting with a couple of familiar faces: Grant Wainscott, the former ecosystems director at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, has come on as general manager for the U.S., building on 20 years in the area. Jamie Clarke, a U.K. native and veteran of Atlanta’s fintech community through companies like Salary Finance and Highline, serves as chief growth officer.

Ekko is basing out of Atlanta Tech Village’s new Sylvan space in South Downtown, where entrepreneurs are leading a renaissance of historic properties in the shadow of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. ATV founder David Cummings, who purchased the city block from Newport, the German-based development firm, came to chat with ekko’s leaders Wednesday ahead of their launch. 

Enabling Conscious Consumption

As for the product itself, ekko gives merchants the opportunity to embed climate awareness and generosity into conscious consumers’ transaction journeys, of which there are more than a trillion each year globally, Mr. Cook says. 

Supported by robust back-end research and integrations with world-renowned environmental impact organizations, ekko’s widget helps cutomers quantify carbon emissions, purchase offsets or round up a payment to support causes of nature and community, Mr. Cook says, noting that the company aims to facilitate $1 billion in contributions within five years (it hasn’t disclosed how far along this journey ekko has progressed so far). 

The rationale for payments companies and the merchants they serve is clear, Mr. Cook says: Customers are demanding ways to make their consumption more transparent and responsible, aligning their dollars with their values, but doing so can be unclear or cumbersome.

Ekko helps acquirers, including large partners like WorldPay and Turkey’s Zip and others, serve their merchants better by giving them the ability to meet this consumer need immediately and without any additional cost (ekko doesn’t get paid its service fee unless a donation is processed). 

“This is a value-added proposition that payments companies integrate with and can be deployed to merchants all over the world,” Mr. Cook said. “From a consumer point of view, it’s great because I am in the middle of my purchase journey; I’m not going out of my way to do this.”

Succeeding and Paying It Forward in the U.S. 

While U.S. national policy seems to be veering away from climate consciousness, and ekko is working on a tailored offering for the U.S., Mr. Cook asserted that individuals want to do good where they can, even when if can’t move their whole financial portfolio to a climate-conscious bank.

“This isn’t a big corporate statement. That’s not our business model. That’s not what we do. We’re here to help the consumers. The consumers haven’t changed, and actually, some of the data says the opposite, that they’re spending more.” 

Understanding the intricacies of the U.S. market is why ekko saw the need to position itself in Atlanta, especially after being discouraged by some other firms that have had trouble cracking the U.S. market.

“Our organization is built on relationships,” Mr. Cook told Global Atlanta. “We don’t want to be the organization that tries to grow the US over Zoom.” 

It’s the same approach ekko has taken in places like Paris and Cape Town, where it also has offices, along with deployments across Europe and Asia.

Down the road, Atlanta could be a launching point for Latin American expansion, though the U.S., with its massive market and 10,000-plus financial institutions, leaves enough to chew on for now. 

Ekko, so name because of the positive reverberations it hopes to send out with every transaction, sees growth not only online, but also through embeds in in-person payment terminals. White-labeling is also possible for brands that seek to bring a similar experience to consumers inside their own apps, though Ekko prides itself on being a trusted (albeit low-friction) intermediary, providing insight and a bit of third-party validation to the donation process.

“It’s not our money, we’re just moving it,” Mr. Cook says. “So we take it really seriously: where’s that money going, what’s the impact, is it traceable, do you trust it, do we trust it? That is core for our company.” 

The ethos of building sustainability through business rather than empty pledges resonates in Atlanta. [See Global Atlanta’s Circular City Special Report]

“Ekko’s arrival reflects the kind of innovation Atlanta is known for — practical, values-driven, and built for scale,” said Ania Lackey, executive director at Fintech Atlanta, whose board of directors includes Mr. Clarke. “They’re entering the market and becoming part of a community that believes in collaboration and in building better outcomes for both business and society.”

To pay it forward, Mr. Cook is set to speak to a group of London startups that will visit Atlanta on a Grow Global London mission in March, sharing hard-earned lessons about succeeding in the world’s largest economy. 

Since that first trip to Atlanta, ekko has been working with Atlanta-based NXTMOVES and WorldPay, which has longtime links to the city and just combined with Atlanta’s Global Payments in a $24.3 billion mega merger resulting in an entity processing $3.7 trillion across 175 countries.

Mr. Cook’s suggestion?

“Just be open-minded and listen to people and figure out what is right for your business,” he said. “Because there are lots of places you can go — we went through lots of places all over the world — but what’s right for you is not necessarily right for everyone.”

• Learn more about ekko here and read the full news release here.