Wellesley Hills Financial Launches Specialty Payments Marketplace to Provide Top-tier Investment Banking and Advisory to Merchant Acquirers

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wellesley Hills Financial (“WHF”), the leading payments, fintech and B2B software investment bank in the lower middle-market, is proud to announce the launch of Merchant Portfolios, a new marketplace dedicated to helping payments companies maximize investment and optimize returns through accessible, high-level financial services. The new business unit will provide payments companies with investment banking and advisory expertise typically reserved for larger enterprises. Merchant Portfolios will help with the most common challenges merchant acquirers face, including go-to-market strategy, commercial partnerships, product suite expansion, mergers and acquisitions, and capital needs. Through an array of new partnerships with leading industry solution providers, from top data analytics firms to financial providers across the capital stack, Merchant Portfolios goal is to become the marketplace for payments processing and merchant acquirer ecosystem participants, maximizing growth and value creation.

Whereas WHF’s investment banking services cater to lower middle-market enterprises covering multiple verticals, Merchant Portfolios is designed solely for payment companies - ISOs and MSPs - to help drive growth. “Traditional investment banks cater to high value clients, leaving small businesses without the financial guidance they need to thrive and grow,” said O.B. Rawls, Executive Director of Wellesley Hills Financial and a 35-year veteran of the payments space. He added, “Merchant Portfolios bridges this gap, ensuring that underserved and overlooked small payments businesses have access to the tools and services necessary to create long term success and generational wealth.”

Merchant Portfolios has secured preferential partnerships with revenue-based capital providers to offer premium access to working capital solutions, creating the first merchant portfolio-based lending engine designed to address the needs of all sizes of payments businesses. Anthony Malatesta, Co-founder of WHF and a top payments analyst said, "Our goal with Merchant Portfolios is to enable businesses at all levels to understand their performance, valuation, financing options, and exit opportunities, with the same level of sophistication as larger enterprises. Additionally, provisioning payment ISOs and agents with competitive lending options will be a major benefit to the industry."

Merchant Portfolios is collaborating with industry leading technology companies to help merchant acquirers expand their product suite and enable new revenue streams. One of its most exciting new partnerships is with data intelligence platform AdvanceIQ.ai, which drives smarter risk assessment and merchant portfolio optimization in the SMB, alternative lending sector. The partnership will help merchant acquirers, ISOs, and agents assess their existing merchant portfolios for merchant cash advance opportunities and optimize existing MCA programs. Combined with its merchant portfolio lending engine, Merchant Portfolios becomes a unified service provider, equipping payments company founders with the capital and strategic tools to fuel growth and maximize value.

About Merchant Portfolios

Merchant Portfolios, a division of Wellesley Hills Financial, operates as a dedicated investment banking and advisory marketplace for the payments processing space. Its sole focus is assisting payments companies - payments processors, merchant acquirers, ISOs - with M&A, growth capital and financing, financial forecasting, budgeting, merchant portfolio KPI analysis, merchant portfolio and acquirer valuation, merchant portfolio loans, and the optimization of merchant cash advance programs.

For more information on how Merchant Portfolios can support your payments business’s growth, visit www.merchantportfolios.com or contact [e-mail].