Lovell Minnick Partners acquires Merchant Industry to scale processing infrastructure, bring in seasoned leadership, and drive growth in SMB payment services.
Highlights:
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Lovell Minnick Partners has acquired Merchant Industry, a US-based payment processor serving over 20,000 small and mid-sized businesses, processing ~$5 billion in annual transactions.
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New leadership will be installed: Vaden Landers will replace co-founder Leo Vartanov as CEO upon deal closing. The founders will retain a substantial minority equity stake.
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The acquisition will enable Merchant Industry to scale infrastructure, expand its distribution capabilities, and pursue strategic M&A under strengthened financial and operational support.
Summary:
Merchant Industry, a US payment processing company founded in 2007 and based in New York, has been acquired by private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners. Merchant Industry services over 20,000 SMB clients and processes approximately $5 billion in annual transactions through its suite of payment gateway APIs, POS systems, virtual terminals, and credit card processing.
Under the deal, Vaden Landers — an industry veteran with leadership experience at Global Payments, MerchantE, and Singular Payments — will take over as CEO. While the current ownership team (co-founder Leo Vartanov and chief revenue officer Chris Benabu) will remain invested through a significant minority stake.
Lovell Minnick is expected to bolster Merchant Industry’s growth by investing in infrastructure, enhancing distribution, and enabling organic growth complemented by further M&A. This move is designed to strengthen Merchant Industry’s ability to compete in the fast-evolving SMB payments space.
