StrategyCorps Announces Capital Partnership with Estancia Capital Partners to Enhance Solutions and Accelerate Growth

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--StrategyCorps, LLC (“SC” or the “Company”), the industry-leading provider of deposit analytics and retail and small business checking-related solutions, and Estancia Capital Partners, a respected lower-middle market private equity firm with a successful investing track record in the financial services industry, announced today that they have successfully closed on a capital partnership. Estancia is making a significant investment in SC, which will fuel its growth initiatives including creating new solutions, business development, enhanced client and member services, and targeted strategic acquisitions/partnerships.

Headquartered in Nashville, TN, StrategyCorps is a pioneer in checking account optimization and analytics. SC’s innovative approach incorporates third-party reward-based offerings for banks and credit unions paired with CheckingScore® proprietary data analytics. The Company’s solutions enable financial institutions (“FIs”) to offer material benefits to their clients and gain extensive insights into serving clients comprehensively. With its two distinct product offerings, BaZing® and BaZingBiz®, SC successfully serves nearly 300 FI clients, catering to the needs of retail clients and SMBs.

“In the fiercely competitive banking landscape, being the Primary FI hinges on offering relevant products and exceptional service. Our strategic partnership with Estancia positions StrategyCorps to expand rapidly, evolve our top-performing solutions, and help community and regional FIs outshine mega and digital banks. It also accelerates our client’s ability to generate new revenue, countering the decline of traditional checking-related revenue under regulatory pressure,” affirmed Mike Branton, Chairman and CEO of StrategyCorps.

Dana Kurttila, Managing Director at Estancia, stated, “StrategyCorps has a long and proven track record of optimizing and growing retail and small business customer relationships for their FI clients. SC employs its unique approach of combining actionable analytics with modern, enhanced product solutions. We at Estancia are eager and look forward to bringing our experience in financial technology and banking solutions to accelerate growth and enhance the potential of StrategyCorps' solutions in collaboration with SC’s talented team.”

Darrin Jeffries, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at Estancia, emphasized, “The alignment of interests between Estancia and SC's management is a key factor in our partnership. We look forward to adding strategic and operational value to SC.”

“In addition to their successful track record as capital partners, Estancia’s approach aligns seamlessly with our culture and corporate values. This alignment is crucial as it ensures that our existing management and strategy stay in place while providing broader ownership opportunities for StrategyCorps employees to reward their performance. Their approach was the difference maker in choosing Estancia versus others we considered,” said Dave Crook, President and Chief Revenue Officer.

The transaction closed on June 28, 2024. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company (KBW), and Bass Berry Sims (BBS) acted as financial and legal advisors to StrategyCorps, respectively. Estancia selected First Eagle Investments and Andalusian Credit Partners as its capital partners for this investment. Jefferies LLC and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as financial and legal advisors to Estancia, respectively.

About StrategyCorps

Since 2001, StrategyCorps has been a trusted provider of checking account optimization through third-party reward-based offerings for banks and credit unions. SC leverages analytics data to optimize revenue opportunities for financial institutions and provide detailed insight into client segmentation, revenue optimization, and expense reduction. Nearly 300 financial institutions have generated billions of value-based recurring revenue and deposit growth from its checking solutions, supported by industry-leading actionable deposit analytics, a proprietary merchandising formula, dynamic pricing, and an unbeatable digital user experience For more information, visit www.strategycorps.com.

About Estancia

Estancia is a specialist private equity firm investing in lower middle-market companies that provide mission-critical solutions to the financial system. Estancia’s Principals have a history of successfully partnering with management teams to provide capital to facilitate portfolio companies' strategic development, including management buy-outs from larger financial firms, private ownership/succession transitions, growth initiatives, and team lift-outs. For more information, visit www.estanciapartners.com.