Fern Capital
Considered counsel for owners, operators, and investors navigating capital, growth, and the decisions that define a company’s next chapter.
Begin a conversationA quiet partner in consequential decisions.
Fern Capital provides independent strategic advisory services to a select group of companies and their principals. We bring the discipline of institutional finance and the patience of a long-term owner to every engagement—advising on strategy, capital, and transactions with discretion, judgment, and rigor.
No product to sell. Only your interests.
Sensitive matters, handled quietly.
Long-term thinking, start to finish.
Eleven years in the hardest part of payments.
I founded Finexio in 2015 and led it as CEO for eleven years, building it from an idea into a category leader in embedded B2B payments.
B2B payments looks like a software problem because the volumes are enormous—but the volumes are not the hard part. The hard part is the middle: enrolling hundreds of thousands of suppliers, executing across every payment rail, carrying the fraud and risk burden, and passing bank-grade compliance, all while keeping the economics intact. Most platforms underestimate it and stall.
We built Finexio to more than $7 billion in annual payment volume, $17.5 million in ARR, and a network of over 500,000 suppliers—with net revenue retention around 140% and payment contribution margins roughly twice the industry average, because we solved the operational grind, not just the interface.
Fewer than 2% of U.S. fintech companies raised the capital Finexio did over the past decade—and far fewer were led by the same founder from the first check to the last.
Concept to category, eleven years in the seat.
~$100M raised—from bank strategics, not momentum money.
Built, financed, and transitioned on my own terms.
Built, financed, and led.
The full arc of a payments company—origination to institutional scale to transition—is one most founders never complete. This is the ground I have actually covered.
Build
Finexio, from concept to $7B+ in annual payment volume and a 500,000-supplier network—its rails embedded inside the world’s largest accounts payable and procurement platforms, with an AI/ML engine predicting the right payment method for each supplier.
Raise
Roughly $100M in equity and debt across eleven years, from five publicly traded banks—with J.P. Morgan as largest investor and strategic network partner. When the market turned in 2022, I engineered equity and debt to carry us through without a down round.
Lead
Today I source, structure, and help lead complex payments deals. The priority I am pursuing most aggressively is a merchant services roll-up—consolidating payment platforms into a single, better-capitalized business—as a board director and advisor who stays close to the deal.
Advisory, end to end.
Strategic Advisory
Clear thinking on positioning, growth, and the decisions that shape a company’s trajectory—from the board table to the operating plan.
Capital & Transactions
Guidance across financing, acquisitions, and divestitures—from first conversation to close, with a steady hand at every stage.
Ownership & Transition
Counsel for founders and owners planning succession, liquidity, and what comes next—with an eye on legacy as well as value.
One of the oldest plants on earth—resilient, self-sufficient, and quietly enduring.
A symbol of new beginnings and quiet confidence.
Start the conversation.
Every engagement begins with a private conversation. We would be glad to hear what you are working toward.