Afshin Yasdian JD
CEO-Exec. Chairman

NASHVILLE-based fintech veteran Afshin Yazdian is CEO and executive chairman of private-equity-backed KURV, formerly known as Electronic Merchant Systems, which is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

On May 3, he told Venture Nashville his aim is to accelerate transformation of EMS into a leading fintech platform via organic growth, opportunistic acquisitions, talent development and, among other things, the imminent rebranding of the company.

Update: The company's new brand and website -- KURV and Kurvpay.com -- began rolling-out after our initial publication.

The overarching goal, Yazdian said, is to move rapidly and with precision to transform a solid, but slower-growing lifestyle business into a rapidly scalable technology platform company.

AI and machine learning will continue to play important roles in EMS's expansion.

An EMS release three weeks ago said more than "30,000 retail, internet and omnichannel customers nationwide rely on the firm's diverse suite of modern payment solutions, including credit card processing and risk management to gateways and virtual terminals, sales software, and web management."

In August 2024, EMS announced it had received a strategic majority investment by Greenwich-based BharCap Partners LLC.

In slightly more than the past two years, EMS acquired Oklahoma City-based Peel Payments; Los Angeles-based PayCloud; and, became strategic investor for both Payment Nerds and Pet Payments startups. Earlier, in 2022, EMS acquired majority interest in North Carolina-based Paysley.

The company has roughly 380 team members, mainly in Cleveland and Los Angeles, with some presence in London, Nashville and elsewhere.

Since Yazdian's recruitment to EMS was announced in October 2023, he has announced the appointments of Chief of Staff Nicole Kennedy; Chief Operations Officer Randy Hayashi; Chief Risk and Compliance Officer Dan Stanbridge; and, General Counsel Honora Moore.

He told VNC other executive committee members include: CFO Rick Campbell; CTO Jim Viton; and, CMO Neal Hoffman.

According to EMS's press release of Aug. 1, 2024, the EMS board includes, in addition to Yazdian, BharCap Operating Partners and Strategic Advisors Raj Date and Karl Mehta, and Partners Bharath Srikrishnan and Ethan Wang.

BharCap's Srikrishnan said in that same release, "The payment processing industry was the first financial services sub-sector I worked in 24 years ago, and I have always considered it to be one of the most attractive sub-sectors in which to invest. We first met EMS almost a decade ago, and we have deep respect for EMS' ability to deliver unparalleled service to their partners in the digital economy. As entrepreneurs ourselves, we have tremendous empathy for founders, and are therefore often chosen to be a company's first capital partner - and we do not take this responsibility lightly. We hope to build on EMS' great legacy while also leveraging our proven toolkit to help management execute its next phase of innovation and expansion."

Bharath Srikrishnan

Two weeks ago Srikrishnan invited his followers to "...keep EMS and BharCap in mind for acquisitions in the payment processing space! We are just getting started!"

Asked about exit options, Yazdian said his immediate focus is on building a superb and expansive platform company, success in which would allow the owners multiple exit paths.

EMS was, according to State of Ohio records online, formed in 1987 as Francis David Corporation, and was subsequently rebranded to EMS.

During 2011-2012, EMS Founder Jim Wieland and other EMS owners made plans to sell to a blank check company -- originally Universal Business Payment Solutions Acquisitions Corp, later renamed JetPay. However, VNC understands EMS was allowed by mutual agreement from the beginning of that episode to withdraw from the relationship, which EMS did ahead of consummation. Much of the detail of that matter is captured in these SEC filings.

EMS advisors during the Bharcap-EMS process included San Francisco-based FT Partners, with attorneys with Sullivan & Cromwell and UB Greensfelder as legal counsel. UBGreensfelder has also provided EMS intellectual property-related services.

Although relatively low-profile through it all, Yazdian, 52, has a broad personal ecosystem and a history that ranges from his current directorship with Nashville-based Sonata Bank, back to his Year 2000 involvement in a venture project undertaken with Joe Freedman, the creator of Nashville's first incubator, eConception.

As reflected in his LinkedIn profile, Yazdian's mainly fintech career moves have included iPayment, Paysafe, Priority Payment Systems, Cynergy Data, SparkBase, and Sinohub.

In his continuing role as an Angel investor, VNC research indicates his startup investments have over the years included Chalkline and Health Here, among others.

He spent his early professional years as an M&A attorney with then-Waller-Lansden (now Holland & Knight).

Yazdian earned his law degree at the University of Miami School of Law (1997) and his undergraduate degree in business at Emory University (1994).

He is a member of Emory's Board of Visitors. Six years ago, Emory Business reported on Yazdian's views regarding entrepreneurial innovation and the challenges of building successful, well differentiated businesses around transformative technologies.

Yazdian's family moved to Nashville in the 1980s, and he graduated from Hillwood High School in 1990. He returned to Nashville after completing his college and law studies.

Other VNC coverage of Yazdian here. VNC coverage of fintech here. Resource: Lifestyle businesses. VNC

. last edited 0612 6 May 2025