FT Partners

FT Partners

Steve McLaughlin, formerly a managing director at Morgan Stanley, founded FT Partners in 2001 with a thesis that financial services technology would become a standalone investment banking vertical. The firm has remained purely FinTech-focused since inception. The firm advises on the full transaction spectrum: private capital raising (venture rounds through LBO financing), M&A advisory, IPOs and SPACs for public listings, restructuring, and fairness opinions. FT Partners has been lead or co-lead on landmark deals including the $11.4 billion sale of First Data's majority stake to Fiserv in 2019 and the $18.9 billion merger of IEX Group, operator of the Investors Exchange, in 2020. Geographic coverage spans North America, Europe, and select Asian markets via its Munich office. The firm employs over 300 professionals across offices in San Francisco, Sausalito, Omaha, and Munich. It operates as an independent advisory firm, not a bank or asset manager. In 2022, FT Partners closed a $1.1 billion credit fund — its first capital vehicle — focused on providing debt and structured equity to FinTech companies (per the Financial Times, 2022). FT Partners' structural differentiator is its uncompromised sector depth. Unlike bulge-bracket banks that cover FinTech as one part of a broader tech team, FT Partners has no non-FinTech practice. This narrow focus allows it to build proprietary deal flow and maintain relationships that span founders' entire careers. The firm has no known succession plan publicly disclosed for founder Steve McLaughlin.