Cannabis financial technology company Abaca has named Brian Bauer as its chief strategy and revenue officer.
Abaca was founded in 2017 by CEO Dan Roda, John Foley, Greg Ellis and Bauer, who is now assuming a full-time role. The company is a key player in the cannabis sector, enabling financial services, including banking, lending and electronic payment processing, for U.S. cannabis companies.
The firm has partner financial institutions accepting bank account applications in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, North Dakota, and Oklahoma; it has lending applications in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota and Oklahoma; and it has hemp/CBD applications nationwide.
As the chief strategy and revenue officer, Bauer will oversee Abaca’s growth strategy, business development and strategic partnerships. In addition, he will head up Abaca’s sales and lending teams.
“Over the last 24 months, Abaca has been growing steadily along with the entire cannabis industry,” Roda said in a statement. “Brian’s experience and depth of resources in fintech and innovation will be essential in continuing this growth and in enabling the provision of modern financial services across this vertical.”
Most recently, Bauer has served as The Venture Center’s managing director of fintech accelerator programs. In this role, he managed multiple globally-recognized accelerator programs, including the FIS Fintech Accelerator and the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator.
“I am glad to be able to shift my focus to furthering Abaca’s mission of providing our clients with the very best financial services available. There is a tremendous opportunity in this industry that is still very underserved. I look forward to working with our growing team to continue the expansion of our offerings and to maximize our market opportunity,” Bauer said. “I am proud of what our team at The Venture Center has built together, and I am committed to staying involved as a proud advocate and supporter of their important mission to help entrepreneurs. I look forward to their continued success. We hope to keep drawing on Central Arkansas’ great startup and fintech resources such as The Venture Center as Abaca continues to grow.”
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