# FT Partners

FT Partners is an Asset Manager based in San Francisco, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Asset Manager
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** San Francisco, CA, United States
- **Founded:** 1995
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** ftpartners.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/ft-partners

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

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.

## Sectors

- FinTech
- Enterprise Software
- Real Estate
- Infrastructure
- Private Credit

## Offices

- Sausalito
- Munich
- Omaha

## People

- Farrell Thomas — CEO
- Steve McLaughlin — Founder & CEO

## Questions

### Who runs FT Partners?

The firm was founded by Steve McLaughlin in 2001 and is led by CEO Farrell Thomas as of 2023. McLaughlin remains chairman. The management team includes several managing directors with backgrounds from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and other bulge-bracket banks, per the firm's public disclosures.

### Does FT Partners only do M&A advisory?

No. While M&A advisory is a core business, FT Partners also raises private capital (venture, growth, and buyout equity), executes IPOs and SPACs, provides restructuring advice, and runs a credit fund launched in 2022. It describes itself as a full-service investment bank for FinTech, per its website.

### What sectors does FT Partners cover?

FT Partners exclusively covers financial technology. This includes payments, lending, capital markets tech, insurance tech, real estate tech, and blockchain/digital assets. It has no non-FinTech practice, making it one of the few pure-play FinTech investment banks globally.

### How big is FT Partners' credit fund?

FT Partners closed a $1.1 billion credit fund in 2022, its first capital vehicle. The fund provides debt and structured equity to FinTech companies, per the Financial Times in 2022.

### Where does FT Partners operate?

FT Partners has offices in San Francisco, Sausalito, Omaha, and Munich. Most of its team is based in the Bay Area, but the Munich office serves European FinTech clients.

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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