CardConnect acquires Chicago-based sales firm MertzCo

The latest from publicly-traded fintech company CardConnect is an acqui-hire of sorts.

Today, the King of Prussia, Pa.-based company announced it had acquired a Chicago-based sales firm called MertzCo for an undisclosed amount. The firm’s 13-strong full-time staff, including CEO Michael Mertz, will join CardConnect but keep their Chicago location. No layoffs were reported.

As part of the transaction, Mertz joined CardConnect’s senior exec team as Chief Sales Officer. He brings aboard 27 years of experience in the payment processing business, having served as CEO at MertzCo since 2003.

Jeff Shanahan, CEO and President of CardConnect, called the deal “the next logical step” for CardConnect in response to a 10-year relationship with the MertzCo team.

“MertzCo has consistently generated strong growth, recently as a value-added reseller of CardPointe,” said Shanahan in a press release. “Now, in combining Michael’s ability to build a high-producing sales organization with CardConnect’s technology we expect to significantly expand our direct distribution channel, one of our 2017 growth objectives”

Following the transaction, the fintech firm’s staff count rose to 225.

CardConnect VP of Marketing, Michael Starosciak told Technical.ly MertzCo stood out as one of the company’s best hawkers.

“CardConnect has a lot of different sales partners that range from agents and independent sales offices,” said Starosciak. “They would have a sales force that sells technology from CardConnect. This particular group definitely were our larger resellers. They were very skilled at growing the business.”

CardConnect was acquired in March 2016 in a bid to take the company public. Last summer, CardConnect finalized the deal and, a month later, we spotted a triumphant Shanahan ringing the Nasdaq closing bell. Here’s his take on why fintech is not a buzzword anymore.