Skip to content
i2E
  • Programs
    • For Startups
      • E3
      • Bridge2
      • OCN
    • For Students
      • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • For Corporations
    • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Programs
    • For Startups
      • E3
      • Bridge2
      • OCN
    • For Students
      • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • For Corporations
    • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Media
Search

Alkami Technology proves that financial unicorns are not a myth

Get in Touch

[vc_row][vc_column][button size=”medium_rd_bt” url=”https://i2e.org/?na=view&id=31″]Back to Newsletter[/button][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

By Scott Meacham

Oklahoma-founded Alkami Technology proves that financial unicorns are not a myth.

i2E and Oklahoma scored another first in innovation and entrepreneurship in April when Alkami Technology, our state’s and our firm’s first “unicorn” debuted on the Nasdaq (ALKT).

In venture capital parlance, “unicorn” describes a privately held startup company with a company valuation of over $1 billion. In literature and in most of life, unicorns are a rare mythical breed, more likely imagined than seen—but in the venture capital business, they do sometimes appear.

Rising Value

Alkami Technology’s initial public offering (IPO) raised $180 million, selling six million shares of common stock, with a surging market capitalization that exceeded $3 billion — more than triple the definition of a “unicorn” deal.

The firm provides cloud-based digital banking solutions for banks and credit unions. The company was founded (as iThryv) by Oklahomans and a group of serial entrepreneurs made up of Gary Nelson, Scott Klososky, Steve Meston, Bobby Gruenewald and Louis Iaanaccone more than 10 years ago in Oklahoma City.

i2E made an initial concept investment through the OCAST Technology Business Finance Program  (which iThryv repaid) early in the company’s life, and then in June of 2009, we made another investment in the form of a convertible note from the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund (OSCF).

We last wrote about Alkami Technology as a potential unicorn in 2020 after i2E received a request from one of the largest VC funds in the world to buy all or part of the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund’s position. We sold part of our investment and held the rest. It has been a blockbuster year.

As of August 2020, Crunchbase estimated the valuation of Alkami to be between $500,000 and $1 billion. As of this week, now that the frothiness of the IPO has settled down, Alkami’s market capitalization is $2.5 billion — more than two-and-a-half times last summer’s market outlook.

Alkami’s success shows that financial unicorns are not a myth.

As we all know, stock prices and market capitalizations depend on the fundamentals of a business and how well the management team executes. For Alkami, as for any new IPO, much remains to be seen. Our purpose in featuring this Oklahoma-born venture is not to predict financial results.

Rather, I want to shine the spotlight on how this deal got started with concept and seed investments, first from Oklahoma’s OCAST TBFP and then from the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund.

Back when Alkami was gaining traction, Oklahoma lacked the investment capital that the company needed to grow, so this Oklahoma startup raised capital initially from Texas-based S3 Ventures and then, ultimately, from investors including General Atlantic and D1 Capital. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Barclays were the lead underwriters in Alkami Technology’s IPO.

Alkami has more than 160 financial institutions using its services. In the words of Alkami CEO Mike Hansen, “Our Alkamists wake up every day focused on one thing: designing and delivering the best digital banking experiences for businesses and consumers of financial institutions.”

Banking Expertise

And, to paraphrase the words of Liberty Bank, an Alkami customer and Connecticut’s oldest bank with over $7 billion in assets, the reason for doing business with Alkami is because the company’s “deep expertise in retail and business banking translates to innovation.”

To restate Alkami’s secret sauce in i2E’s words — it is a dedicated and deliberate commitment to customer and market validation for product and market fit.

The success story of Alkami Technology—from an Oklahoma City startup to a multi-billion dollar IPO and i2E’s first unicorn — fans the flames of innovation and entrepreneurial possibility. The more startup companies with high-growth potential that we can support with venture services and seed stage capital, the greater the opportunity we have to create a herd of unicorns.

As Alkami Technology proves, financial unicorns are not a myth.

Scott Meacham is president and CEO of i2E Inc., a nonprofit corporation that mentors many of the state’s technology-based startup companies. i2E receives state support from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology and is an integral part of Oklahoma’s Innovation Model. Contact Meacham at [email protected].

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

More News

Loading...
Blog, Featured, News
06.25.25

i2E Showcases Startup Innovation at Bridge2 Cohort 3 Demo Day

Read more
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.25.25

Oklahoma Collegiate Entrepreneurs Take Home Over $167K at Entrepreneur’s Cup

Read more
Blog, Featured, News
12.16.24

MidAmerica and i2E Announce Award Winners

Read more
Blog, Featured, News
11.21.24

i2E & Plains Ventures Surpasses $100M Milestone in Total Investments

Read more
Blog
09.30.24

i2E Receives 2024 Excellence in Economic Development Award from IEDC

Read more
Blog
06.18.24

Bridge2 Demo Day Returns, Highlighting Promising Oklahoma Startups

Read more
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
05.13.24

Student Entrepreneurs Triumph at 20th Anniversary Entrepreneur’s Cup, Winning $158,000 in Prizes

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.24.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Jessica Kinsey

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.23.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Nathan Fountain

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.23.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Srijita Ghosh

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.18.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – MaxQ

Read more
Blog, i2E
01.30.24

i2E Celebrates Success of Inaugural Bridge2 Demo Day

Read more
i2E

Oklahoma City Office

201 Robert S Kerr Ave, Suite 600
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
+1 (405) 235.2305

Tulsa Office

12 N. Cheyenne Ave, Suite 112
Tulsa, OK 74103
+1 (918) 582.5592

  • Client Portfolio
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Funding
  • Venture Advisory

© 2025 i2E Privacy Policy

Follow us:

Linkedin Twitter Facebook Instagram Youtube

Programs

  • For Startups
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • OCN
  • For Students
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
  • For Corporations
  • For Investors
  • For Startups
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • OCN
  • For Students
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
  • For Corporations
  • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio

Services

  • Access to Funding
  • Venture Advisory Services
  • Events
  • Contact
  • About
  • Our Values
  • Our Team
  • Board of Directors
  • Corporate Partners
  • Media
i2E