San Francisco, New York City and London are still the top trifecta of fintech global city hubs, with the U.S. collecting 45% of all deals in this market in Q3 of 2025, according to FinTech Global. One-third of U.S. fintech activities in that same quarter were transacted by California companies.
How do other locations stand out when it comes to this highly competitive and lucrative arena? A surge of activity can be found in many rising global hubs, including countries like Argentina, Ireland and Shanghai. Within the U.S., the state of Georgia is known for its presence in cybersecurity and fintech — around 70% of the nation’s payment transactions, debit or credit, are processed in Georgia, marking the state as “Transaction Alley.”
In November, I attended the kickoff of a days-long networking event in midtown Atlanta hosted by the Consulate General of Argentina in Atlanta and the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).
Argentina on the Rise
“Technology forces us to think very positively,” said Alec (Alejandro) Oxenford, ambassador of Argentina to the U.S. and co-founder of several successful technology companies, in his keynote speech.
“When you think of the fundamentals needed to be able to imagine a future with a very strong tech sector, you need very strong work talent and a strong class of engineers and universities. We are producing engineers at very significant rates, and they are competing globally.”
A leading incubator in Latin America of tech startups in the early 2000s, Argentina has continued to rocket through the fintech playing field even against a backdrop of political, social and economic volatility, including runaway inflation that has recently shown signs of ebbing.
But these hills and valleys have not stopped the country from investing in technology or new ideas, as evidenced by the 13 Argentine tech companies that attended the Atlanta event.
The companies operate in several sectors, including health care, SaaS, finance intelligence leveraging AI, HR decision-making for AI engineers, emerging tech for workforce training, automation of physical stores, blockchain, marketing tech (martech) and scalable cloud solutions.
The Beating Fintech Heart of the Southeast
Asked by FinTech Atlanta Executive Director Ania Lackey what is making tech workers move to Atlanta, TAG CEO Larry K. Williams noted that the city is “where technology meets the real world. It’s not just the shiniest new gadget or new social app.”
Lackey tells Site Selection that the Georgia capital’s rise as a fintech hub “stems from a rare combination of deep payments infrastructure, high-density corporate presence and a steady pipeline of fintech-ready talent. Decades of leadership from companies like Global Payments, Fiserv, Deluxe, FIS and others created an industrial backbone that processes the majority of U.S. card transactions. On top of that is a talent engine powered by Georgia Tech, UGA, KSU, GSU and the region’s HBCUs — producing the engineers, product leaders, cybersecurity experts and operators that fintech companies depend on.”
The proximity between enterprise buyers and emerging innovators is also a factor that sets Atlanta apart, she adds.
