DALLAS and PRINCETON, N.J. -

It’s been quite a week for Solutions by Text, provider of a text messaging platform for consumer financial services institutions.

First, the company announced raising of $35 million in growth financing. Edison Partners led the transaction with participation from Stifel Venture Bank, a division of Stifel Bank.

The company also announced the appointment of payments industry leader David Baxter as chief executive officer.

Under Baxter’s leadership, the company said it will use investment proceeds to accelerate the adoption and extensibility of compliant text-based solutions across the consumer finance lifecycle.

Executives highlighted that more than 1,400 consumer finance organizations, including leading auto finance, banking and lending brands, leverage Solutions by Text (SBT) to power compliant texting programs in support of their originations, servicing and collections initiatives. The company’s platform can enable controls and management over regulatory and carrier communication policies, including the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s latest Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) requirements.

“Eight in ten U.S. adults use text messaging on a regular basis. With Solutions by Text, financial institutions are meeting these consumers where and how they want to be met, and doing so with peace of mind,” said Kelly Ford, who is general partner at Edison Partners. Ford led the investment and joined the company’s board of directors.

“The company is uniquely positioned to scale growth in the fintech market with a team of deep regulatory compliance, messaging and payments expertise, not to mention a sizable loyal customer and partner base with significant embedded opportunity,” Ford continued in a news release.

Edison Partners’ investment coincides with the appointment of Baxter as the company’s CEO.

Baxter is a payments industry executive joining the company from ACI Worldwide, where he led sales for the past eight years. Baxter grew and scaled the ACI bill presentment and payment business, following the acquisition of Online Resources, from $20 million to more than $600 million, moving the company’s biller-focused segment from No. 12 to No. 1 in the industry.

SBT recapped that founders Danny and Mike Cantrell bootstrapped the company’s growth, which has been grounded in strong customer centricity. Both founders will continue to hold strategic customer-facing positions in the business going forward.

“We started SBT knowing there was a compelling need to give financial institutions compliance certainty as they seek to connect with consumers in the channels they use every day,” Danny Cantrell said in the news release. “As we’ve reached a new phase of growth, bringing on David is an important milestone. He’s an impressive growth leader, an innovator in payments, and I am thrilled to seize our incredible market opportunity with him at the helm.”

Joining Ford and Baxter on the board are co-founder Mike Cantrell and Edison director network members Ron Hynes and Nick Manolis. A payments industry veteran, Hynes is currently the CEO of Vesta and previously served with Ford on Bento for Business’ board of directors prior to its sale to U.S. Bank last quarter.

Manolis, SBT’s chairman, is an enterprise SaaS industry veteran who has successfully led Edison portfolio companies as CEO and as board director.

“I’ve long admired SBT’s leadership in compliant SMS, so it’s exciting to team with founders Danny and Mike Cantrell,” Baxter said. “Now more than ever, consumer finance organizations are taking a hard look at how to strengthen digital consumer relationships while maintaining compliance with national standards. 

“Our opportunity to capture market share through existing and expanded platform capabilities is immense and we’ve assembled an exceptional team and board to turbo-charge this next chapter of growth. Edison’s fintech domain expertise and growth-stage operating know-how has already been invaluable,” Baxter went on to say.