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i3 Verticals
i3 Verticals launched in 2012 when Greg Daily, a veteran of the merchant acquirer iPayment, applied a consolidation thesis to the fragmented world of...
i3 Verticals
i3 Verticals launched in 2012 when Greg Daily, a veteran of the merchant acquirer iPayment, applied a consolidation thesis to the fragmented world of vertical market software with integrated payments. Rather than building a generalist platform, Daily targeted discrete, compliance-heavy niches where software acts as the system of record — meaning payments flow through the platform with high retention. The firm listed on Nasdaq in June 2018 under the ticker IIIV. The portfolio spans four primary verticals: public sector, healthcare, education, and nonprofit. Within public sector, i3 provides software that manages utility billing and court fee collections for municipalities, while its healthcare segment delivers revenue cycle management and practice management tools for providers. Acquisitions have been the engine — since 2018, i3 has completed more than 40 add-on transactions, often targeting founder-owned businesses with $2–15 million in annual revenue. Named acquisitions include Pace Payment Systems, a government payments processor; and ImageSoft, which brought document management to courts. Geographic footprint is US-focused, serving clients across all 50 states. As a public company, i3 Verticals reports its financials quarterly. Full-year fiscal 2024 revenue reached approximately $350 million, driven by organic growth in the public sector and healthcare segments. In November 2024, the firm announced the sale of its merchant of record payments business to Shift4 for roughly $400 million — a strategic move to simplify its operating structure and focus capital allocation solely on proprietary vertical software (per the firm, November 2024). The company's balance-sheet deployment is guided by Daily alongside CFO Clay Whitson. Structurally, i3 Verticals is distinct in the vertical software category for its acquisition playbook — it buys niche companies at low revenue multiples and layers in a shared payment processing infrastructure without disrupting the acquired firm's client-facing operations. The November 2024 divestiture signals a maturation from an agnostic payment processor into a pure-play software company, a transition few roll-up strategies manage without value-destructive integration friction.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2012
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Nashville
Corporate office
Nashville, TN, United States
Principals
Greg Daily
CEO
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes the capital allocation decisions at i3 Verticals?
CEO Greg Daily leads acquisition strategy, supported by CFO Clay Whitson. The company has closed over 40 add-on acquisitions since 2018, targeting founder-owned vertical market software companies with enterprise values between $2 million and $15 million. The board of directors, which includes Daily and independent members, approves major capital deployment and strategic pivots like the November 2024 Shift4 divestiture.
Is i3 Verticals a software company or a payment processor?
After the November 2024 sale of its merchant of record payments subsidiary to Shift4, i3 Verticals is now positioned as a pure-play vertical market software company with embedded payment capabilities. The distinction matters: the firm's recurring revenue comes from software that clients use to run their operations, with payments representing the integrated monetization layer rather than a standalone processing service.
What verticals does i3 Verticals operate in?
The firm organizes around four segments: public sector (utility billing, court case management, property tax collection), healthcare (revenue cycle management, electronic health records), education (K-12 payment processing for meals and fees), and nonprofit. The public sector and healthcare verticals together generate the majority of revenue, benefiting from digitization mandates and regulatory retention dynamics.
How does i3 Verticals source its acquisitions?
i3 Verticals targets fragmented niches with aging founder-owned software companies that lack integrated payment monetization. Deals typically originate through a small internal corporate development team and a network of industry-specific bankers who now bring opportunities to the firm given its track record as a reliable, close-at-scale acquirer. The company has completed acquisitions in court technology, municipal utility billing, and medical billing verticals.
Does i3 Verticals face meaningful public-market comparables?
Allocators often benchmark i3 Verticals against peers like Global Payments, Tyler Technologies, and Constellation Software. Tyler is the closest analogue in the public sector vertical, while Constellation operates a similar acquisition model. i3's narrow focus on four verticals differentiates it from broader payment processors that lack software depth in those specific end markets.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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