Chamber says Jacksonville’s fintech growth, London trip secures Paysafe deal | Jax Daily Record | Jacksonville Daily Record

Mike Mendenhall and Monty Zickuhr | Staff Writers

JAX Chamber CEO Daniel Davis said the decision by global mobile and online payment provider Paysafe Ltd. about opening its North American headquarters in Northeast Florida will “bridge the London/Jacksonville divide.”

London-based Paysafe announced Nov. 14 at the JAX Chamber that it intends to bring 600 jobs to Jacksonville over the next three years.

Davis said the city’s growing fintech footprint and the chamber’s October trip to London were central to the deal.

He said fintech and financial companies weren’t looking at Northeast Florida until the City Council negotiated in 2003 to bring Fidelity National Financial Inc.’s headquarters to Jacksonville from California.

Fidelity National Financial spun off its financial processing operations as Fidelity National Information Services, known as FIS, in 2006.

According to Davis, the chamber met with more than 50 companies, most of them fintech, while in London during the Jacksonville Jaguars’ annual overseas football game.

“A lot of them now know they want to be in Jacksonville,” Davis said.

“When we first started (in 2003), we had to try to explain where Jacksonville was, and now they’re coming to us thanks to our friends at FIS and Dun & Bradstreet and the company you’re going to hear about today.”

In March 2021, Paysafe merged with Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, founded by Fidelity National Information Services Chairman Bill Foley.

Foley moved from Jacksonville to Las Vegas when he was assigned to the NHL’s expansion team the Vegas Golden Knights in 2016. Foley is also chairman emeritus of the Black Knight.

Before becoming CEO of Paysafe in May, Bruce Lowthers spent 15 years at Jacksonville-based FIS.

Black Knight CEO Anthony Jabbour, who sits on the board of Jacksonville-based Dun & Bradstreet, also sits on Paysafe’s board. Black Knight is part of the group that owns Dun & Bradstreet.

Jabbour told reporters Nov. 14 that he and Lowthers, a former Duval County resident, were “a couple of Jacksonville lawyers” on the Paysafe board.

“For us, this is a very natural place to land,” Lowthers said after the announcement.

“We’re headquartered in London, but we have offices all over the United States, and we wanted to really centralize in a place that would really contribute to our goal of growing our business. For me, Jacksonville was it.”

Lowthers said the city’s diverse talent pool and existing Fortune 500 headquarters also pushed Paysafe’s decision to come here.

According to Lowthers, Paysafe hopes to complete the negotiations for office premises in the next few weeks.

The CEO said Paysafe narrowed the search to a few buildings and included the downtown and downtown areas, but he did not release details on Nov. 14.

Paysafe will ask Jacksonville council members for $10 million in city incentives and $3 million in state aid as part of the deal. The government’s money is from the High-Impact Performance Incentive program.

According to a news release from the JAXUSA Partnership, the chamber’s economic development arm, the state incentives were approved in October.

“Paysafe’s decision to establish its headquarters in Jacksonville further solidifies Florida as the best destination to grow a business,” Governor Ron DeSantis said in a press release.

Legislation will be submitted to the council next week to approve the local economic development package, the release said.

There were 11 councilors at the November 14 announcement.

“It is an honor to welcome Paysafe’s North American headquarters to Jacksonville,” Mayor Lenny Curry said in the release.

“This addition is just another example of Jacksonville’s growing reputation as a global leader in fintech. We remain committed to setting the stage for Jacksonville’s continued economic success.”

According to its website, Paysafe’s US offices include Atlanta; Miami; Tampa-Clearwater; Irving and Westlake Village, California; and Minden, Nevada.

Lowthers said Paysafe’s largest concentration of employees in North America is in Houston and Montreal.

Globally, the company’s biggest presence is in Bulgaria, Lowthers said.

The CEO said about 300 of the 600 jobs in Jacksonville would be transferred from other North American locations as part of the consolidation, and 300 would be hired locally.

“We want to encourage people to gravitate toward Jacksonville, and then our new employees will be here in Jacksonville,” Lowthers said.

Paysafe was founded in 1996 and offers payment processing, digital wallet and online cash solutions.

Paysafe says it has an annual transaction volume of $120 billion from 2021 and around 3,500 employees in more than 10 countries.

It says it connects businesses and consumers across 100 payment types in more than 40 currencies around the world.

Paysafe is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as PSFE. It closed on November 14 at $1.45 per share.

Florida Economic Opportunity Secretary Dane Eagle, Florida Deputy Commerce Secretary Laura DiBella, JAX Chamber Chair Ray Driver and other Paysafe executives also attended the announcement.

Be the first to know the latest breaking news and information that business leaders rely on in this rapidly changing Northeast Florida economy. Regional business news, trends and statistics needed to grow your business. Important upcoming events you don’t want to miss and much more.