Bancorp Inc. founder Betsy Cohen and her son Daniel Cohen are launching their newest venture with the "Blank Check" IPO of Fintech Acquisition Corp. Formerly the CEO of Bancorp, Daniel Cohen becomes the CEO of FinTech Acquisition. His mother will hold the chairman of the board position after also having held the position of CEO of Bancorp, which she stepped down from in December 2014.
A blank-check IPO, FinTech Acquisition comes to market with no existing business but is selling $100 million worth of stock in a deal underwritten by Cantor Fitzgerald. According to the SEC filing, proceeds of the deal will be used for the “purpose of acquiring or merging with one or more businesses or entities in the financial technology industry.”
In its SEC filing, Fintech Acquisition didn’t provide much in the way of details in terms of potential companies they plan to purchase, other than that their goal is to take a complete 100% equity stake in any acquired asset. However, acquisitions are expected to be realized by leveraging the Cohens and their CFO James McEntee’s combined banking skills and existing “network of contacts.” However, the IPO prospectus does warn that its leading managers are also involved with other businesses and aren’t guaranteeing significant time to spend in the running of FinTech Acquisition Corp.
Both serial founders, Betsy and David Cohen have been involved with the creation of numerous financial firms including banks, asset managers and real estate funds, with several of the businesses having been rolled up into each other. As a result of their past involvement with Bancorp, FinTech Acquisition appears to be the Cohen family’s latest project to intertwine their numerous businesses. The naming of the company follows a record breaking year for fintech related investments, which could be a partial driver in why financial technology was chosen as the business of choice for the new venture.
A fintech-focused IPO, the proceeds of the blank-check deal could conceivably be used to acquire a fledgling financial technology firm on the cheap. In such a scenario, the Cohens would be able to Leverage their existing contacts and banking experience to increase the acquired firm’s fortunes as they introduce their technology to banks such as Bancorp.
