Birmingham Business Journal Press Release

Entrepreneur details plans for new fintech venture FIntegrate

A Birmingham banking software entrepreneur has acquired a Carolinas-based fintech company and relocated its headquarters to Trussville. Kris Bishop, who previously served as chief revenue officer of NXTsoft, which acquired his company, Integrated Legacy Solutions, in 2019, recently raised $2.5 million from local investors as well as others around the country to acquire Charlotte-based Fusion CRS Solutions. The deal closed on May 24, and Bishop has leased 4,500 square feet of space at an office complex located at 3648 Vann Road. Bishop’s team is in the process of rebranding the company to FIntegrate, while the product it offers – a collection and recovery software system designed and developed exclusively for credit unions and banks – will continue to be called Fusion. Bishop told the BBJ he is excited to grow his new business in the Birmingham market and reach more financial institutions around the Southeast. The company currently has five employees – two based in Birmingham – and Bishop said he is looking to bring on seven more. “Obviously with Birmingham being a former banking center before the Great Recession, there’s a lot of talent here – both technically and in the banking space – so our goal is to continue to grow that talent base here with all of our technology and operations being based in Birmingham,” he said. He said the company is already working with a large credit union in the area to replace its existing collections system, and there are plans for product expansion outside of Fusion. “We’re actually looking to do a second acquisition in the next 12 to 24 months for a bolt-on type product in the artificial intelligence, RPA (robotic process automation) space, and that too will be moved to Birmingham and headquartered here,” Bishop said. He said the timing is perfect for his new venture as loan activity picks up and as financial institutions prepare to resume collections from loan forbearances and for the repercussions that will arise from the lifting of government regulations that were put in place during the economic crisis caused by Covid-19. He said this software can help banks recover that money and improve their bottom lines. “They will improve their numbers in how much they have to write off or write down in their calculations for their loan loss reserves, “Bishop said. “If I have to put $1 million in loan loss reserves, and all of a sudden next year, because we have some trackable stats (through Fusion), I only have to put $800,000 in, that’s $200,000 going right to my bottom line (and) not taken out of my capital stack.”