Entersekt, a financial technology firm based in South Africa, has opened a new North American headquarters in Sandy Springs following its success landing major customers in the metro Atlanta area.
The company uses the capabilities of a consumer’s mobile device within apps to help with authentication — the process of making sure the person initiating a payment or interacting with a bank is actually the account holder.
Entersekt’s Transakt product is already being used by a variety of banks and major financial-industry players such as FIS and Atlanta-based Equifax Inc., which last year was subject to one of the largest data breaches on record, where hackers accessed records related to some 140 million consumers.
With such breaches becoming more widespread and high-profile, Entersekt sees North America as fertile ground for its services, said Sherif Samy, senior vice president for the region. Atlanta, with its strengths in both payments and cybersecurity, seemed like the right fit.
“We specifically chose to set up shop in Atlanta as a result of the city’s booming payments, security and mobile innovation landscape and are excited to establish ourselves in a fintech hub like Atlanta as we aim to acquire top talent and expand our business relationships with prominent companies in our space,” Mr. Samy said in a news release.
Atlanta joins global Entersekt offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa, along with outposts in Mauritius, London, Munich and Geldermalsen, Netherlands.
