Betsy Z. Cohen

Betsy Z. Cohen (born October 29, 1941)[1] is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Cohen Circle (formerly FinTech Masala),[2] a multi-stage investment firm that she started with son, Daniel Cohen. Since 2015, the firm has provided transformative capital to late stage fintech growth companies and makes investments across the capital structure in the fintech, technology, and impact spaces, with $5bn+ in capital raised.[3][4]

Betsy Zubrow Cohen
Born
Betsy Zubrow

October 29, 1941 (1941-10-29) (age 81)
Philadelphia
Alma materBryn Mawr College
University of Pennsylvania Law School

Cohen is the founder and former CEO of The Bancorp, an internet provider of financial services to non-bank fintech companies. From 1974 through 1999 she was founder, chairman and CEO of Jefferson Bank, an FDIC-insured financial institution headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[5][4][6][7]

Cohen has served on a variety of philanthropic and corporate boards, including Aetna, Inc., Asia Society, The Brookings Institution, and The Metropolitan Opera. She served on the Bryn Mawr College Board of Trustees for 29 years and remains one of the Emeriti trustees. She is an Honorary Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[4][8][9][10]

Early life and education

Cohen is the daughter of Dr. Sidney N. and Molly Zubrow. She was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended Philadelphia High School for Girls. She studied philosophy at Bryn Mawr College (B.A. 1963) and law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D. 1966).[1]

Career

Law and early entrepreneurship

Cohen’s first job was serving as Law Clerk to the Honorable John Biggs, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In 1968 she began teaching insurance, banking, and anti-trust law at Rutgers Law School.[1]

During the same period she founded a shipping business in Hong Kong, a leasing company in Brazil, and a joint venture with a bank in Spain. Cohen also co-founded a Philadelphia law firm, where she specialized in representing financial institutions and industry clients in complex real estate and financial matters.[11] She practiced law until 1983-84, when she left the firm to focus on banking.[1][12]

Jefferson Bank

In 1974, at age 32, Cohen received the first new bank charter granted by the State of Pennsylvania in 11 years to found Jefferson Bank in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. She was the first female bank CEO in Pennsylvania and one of the nation’s first female bank CEOs. Cohen was chairman and CEO of Jefferson Bank and its public holding company, JeffBanks, Inc., until the institution was sold to Hudson United Bank in 1999. At the time of its sale Jefferson Bank was the largest local financial institution in the greater Philadelphia region.[4][13]

The Bancorp

Cohen founded The Bancorp in 1999 and served as Chief Executive Officer of The Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: TBBK) and its subsidiary, The Bancorp Bank, until retiring in December 2014. During this period, the company provided internet banking and financial services to approximately 1600 non-bank fintech companies.[7][14]

Cohen Circle

As Co-Founder and Chairman of Cohen Circle, Cohen and her team have raised over $5bn in capital. The firm's venture investments include Ocrolus, Maxwell, Curve, H2O.AI, Greenwood, and BillGO. In March 2021, Cohen brought her ninth special-purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) to market.[7]

Cohen sponsored her first SPAC, FinTech Acquisition Corp., in January 2015, serving as chairman until it completed a merger with CardConnect Corp. (NASDAQ: CCN) in July 2016.[15]

She was Chairman of FinTech Acquisition Corp. II, from 2017 until completing a merger transaction with Intermex Holdings II, Inc., the parent company of Intermex Wire Transfer, LLC; newly renamed International Money Express, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMXI)., in July 2018.[16]

From 2019 through August 2020, Cohen was chairman of FinTech Acquisition Corp. III, which successfully merged with Paya (NASDAQ: PAYA), a leading integrated payments provider.[17]

In August 2020, Cohen became chairman of FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: FTOC), which in February 2021 announced a merger with Payoneer Inc., a global payment and commerce-enabling platform that upon reorganization will operate as Payoneer, a U.S. publicly listed entity with an implied estimated enterprise value of ~$3.3 billion at closing.[18][19][20]

Cohen became chairman of FinTech Acquisition Corp. IV in September 2020. On December 30, 2020 the SPAC announced plans to merge with global financial advisory firm Perella Weinberg Partners to take the firm public (NASDAQ: PWP); the transaction reflects implied equity value for the reorganized company of ~$975 million.[21]

Cohen became chairman of FinTech Acquisition Corp. V (NASDAQ: FTCVU) in December 2020. On March 15, 2021, trading platform eToro announced plans to merge into the SPAC in an agreement that valued the combined company at about $10.4 billion, which was devalued to $8.8 billion in December 2021.[22][23][24][25]

In February 2021, Cohen became chairman of FTAC Athena Acquisition Corp., (NASDAQ: FTAAU; “FTAA”); which announced its initial public offering on February 23, 2021.[3]

In March 2021, Cohen became chairman of FTAC Hera Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: HERAU), which on March 4, 2021, announced pricing of its upsized initial public offering.[26]

In March 2021, Cohen became chairman of FTAC Parnassus Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: FTPAU), which on March 16, 2021, announced the completion of its initial public offering.[27]

Accolades

Cohen has received awards from numerous business organizations and publications, including the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Drexel University, and National Foundation for Women Business Owners, which in 1997 named her one of 50 leading entrepreneurs of the world.[28] In 2009, US Banker named her one of 25 Women to Watch.[28] She is a past recipient of the Sandra Day O’Connor Board Excellence Awards (from DirectWomen)[29] and the Elizabeth Dole Glass Ceiling Award (Southeastern Pennsylvania American Red Cross).[11]

References
  1. "Interview with Betsy Cohen" (PDF). 28 March 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  2. "Cohen Circle". cohencircle.com. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  3. "SPAC deals: Cohens move full speed ahead as signs of potential blank …". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  4. "Betsy Zubrow Cohen '63 Gives $5 Million Gift for Data Science at Bryn…". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  5. "FT Partners | Financial Technology Investment Bank San Francisco". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  6. Jeff Blumenthal (3 December 2014). "Betsy Cohen looks back at a trailblazing career in banking, law". Philadelphia Business Journal. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021 – via archive.ph.
  7. Veronica Dagher (27 March 2021). "Betsy Cohen Has Launched Nine SPACs and Is Still Going". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021 – via archive.ph.
  8. "Co-Chairs and Trustees | About Asia Society | Asia Society". archive.ph. 24 November 2015. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  9. "Metropolitan Opera | Board of Directors". archive.ph. 8 July 2020. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  10. "The Board of Trustees" (PDF). The Metropolitan Museum. 1 November 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021 – via archive.ph.
  11. "Betsy Cohen – The Middle East Investment Initiative". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  12. "FinTech Masala – Team". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  13. "Philly banker Betsy Cohen leads billion-dollar investment in payments…". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  14. "With Its Innovative Business Model, The Bancorp Looks Undervalued | T…". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  15. "CardConnect® and FinTech Acquisition Corp. Announce Merger Agreement …". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  16. "Intermex Completes Merger with FinTech Acquisition Corp. II | Interna…". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  17. "Paya and FinTech III Announce Merger Agreement | Business Wire". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  18. "Payoneer Reaches $3.3 Billion Deal to Go Public With Betsy Cohen SPAC…". archive.ph. 3 February 2021. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  19. "Betsy Cohen, Payoneer CEO discuss $3.3B SPAC". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  20. "Payoneer And The SPAC: Betsy Cohen And Scott Galit On Going Public, P…". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  21. "In Record-Breaking Year, SPACs Avoid Gender Diversity Push - Bloomberg". archive.ph. 4 December 2020. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  22. "EToro Group to Go Public in Merger Deal With SPAC - WSJ". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  23. "EToro Said to Near $10 Billion Merger With Betsy Cohen SPAC - Bloombe…". archive.ph. 16 March 2021. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  24. "Betsy Cohen and eToro CEO Yoni Assia on going public via SPAC". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  25. "EToro's valuation dips over 15% to $8.8 bln after amended SPAC deal". archive.ph. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  26. "FTAC Hera Acquisition Corp. Announces Completion of $851 million Init…". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  27. "FTAC Parnassus Acquisition Corp. Announces Completion of $250,000,000…". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  28. "FinTech Masala - Overview". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  29. "Betsy Z. Cohen – DirectWomen". archive.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
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