Greenwood, the financial technology startup founded by prominent Atlantans, is moving its headquarters from Atlanta to Tulsa, Oklahoma, part of a shift in strategy spearheaded by the company’s new CEO.
Greenwood was founded in 2020 as a digital banking platform centered on closing the racial wealth gap in the U.S. and providing services to Black and Latino consumers. The company is named after the prosperous Black Tulsa community once known as the Black Wall Street before it was destroyed by a white mob in 1921.
The company’s founders include activist and rapper Michael “Killer Mike” Render, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, entrepreneur Paul Judge and former Bounce TV executive Ryan Glover, who previously served as Greenwood’s CEO.
But the company now has a new leadership team, led by Seattle-based tech veteran Dave Cotter, who became CEO in July. He said moving the headquarters to Greenwood in Tulsa was a “no-brainer.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
“The headquarters, candidly, should have probably always been in Greenwood,” Cotter said. “That’s the legacy that this company was built on, and that legacy should be cemented, and it should be more than marketing. It should be substance.”
Greenwood is a lean operation with about 16 employees overall, Cotter said.
Greenwood does not have an office in Atlanta, its employees have primarily worked virtually. While the relocation to Tulsa will not move employees out of Atlanta, it is symbolically a loss for the city. But Cotter said the company will still have an Atlanta footprint and a strong customer base here. As part of the Tulsa relocation, Greenwood will also be setting up a physical office.
This is one of the biggest moves the company has made since it announced in 2022 it had acquired The Gathering Spot, the Atlanta-based networking and coworking hub. But that business relationship soured in 2023 and by the end of that year, The Gathering Spot split from Greenwood, though Greenwood remains an investor in the company.
Moving the headquarters now comes as Greenwood is charting a new path under Cotter, who had previous stints at Microsoft and Amazon, and founded a tech company that was acquired by Nordstrom.
He said he’s looking to use his experience in online marketplaces and keeping people engaged with a brand to the mission of Greenwood.
“It is a different company than how I would characterize what it was before,” Cotter said. “Same mission, same vision, but the way that we’re executing and how we think about the winning strategy is different.”
To that end, the company announced Monday it is launching a new cash-back program for its paying Greenwood members. They can earn up to 10% back when they use their Greenwood debit card to shop at participating Black-owned businesses.
The program is being piloted at three Atlanta companies — Café Bartique, Kitchen Cray and The Hidden Gym — but Greenwood plans to expand to Tulsa soon and is accepting applications from businesses nationwide that want to participate.
The company also launched an online marketplace Monday connecting consumers to third-party loan providers, which Cotter said is a different program than the financing Greenwood provided to Killer Mike and fellow rapper Clifford “T.I.” Harris in late 2023 for their revamp of the iconic Bankhead Seafood.
Cotter said he thinks Greenwood can help reduce the racial wealth gap by shifting the dollars Black consumers spend. The buying power of African Americans is $1.6 trillion, according to a 2021 study from the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth, but Cotter said just 2% goes to Black businesses.
“If you were able to move that half a percent, you’re talking billions of dollars, and those dollars then help Black businesses grow,” he said. “Black businesses are struggling, and the pullback around (diversity, equity and inclusion) … as a community at large, I mean, we’ve got to drive more spending.”
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