Echelon Payments has made a strategic investment in CREATE. Payments, advancing a partnership that began when CREATE. joined Echelon’s Strategic Partner Program in September 2025.
During the first year of their relationship, the companies combined their capabilities to develop commercial opportunities and support customers. The investment formalizes a closer growth strategy while providing CREATE. with resources to expand.
CREATE. specializes in payment solutions for agents, merchants, and partners, with established experience and relationships in the nonprofit market. The company has also developed a technology stack designed to meet the needs of organizations that accept and manage payments.
Echelon provides operational infrastructure, payment technology, security, support, and commercial resources to independent sales organizations and other partners. It was founded in 2006 by Brett Sturm and Richard Ross, with Jeff Rosenblatt serving as a board member.
The companies said their teams bring hundreds of years of combined payments-industry experience. That background can help them manage merchant acquisition, processing relationships, security, compliance, sales support, and technology integration.
Echelon’s Strategic Partner Program is designed to give participating companies the infrastructure required to develop their own businesses. The CREATE. investment represents a larger commitment to that program and demonstrates that Echelon may deepen relationships with partners that show strategic alignment.
CREATE. will retain the sector expertise and customer relationships it has developed, while gaining access to Echelon’s operational scale. Echelon expects the arrangement to increase its reach and create additional opportunities for both organizations.
The nonprofit payments market has specialized needs, including recurring donations, event payments, donor data, reporting, and integrations with fundraising and constituent-management systems. CREATE.’s experience in this segment provides Echelon with expertise that may be difficult to build organically.
The parties characterized the investment as the outcome of trust developed through a year of practical collaboration. They did not describe it as a change of control and did not provide the investment amount or ownership percentage.
For CREATE., the capital and infrastructure can support hiring, technology development, customer acquisition, and partner expansion. For Echelon, the transaction adds a growing payments company to its network and reinforces a strategy centered on long-term channel relationships.
KEY QUOTES
“The past year has shown us that we share much more than a business relationship. We share a vision for how we can grow, serve our customers and create opportunities together.”
CREATE. Payments and Echelon Payments
“A year ago, the CREATE. and Echelon teams came together, put in the work, and built the kind of trust you cannot put in a contract. That’s why today feels less like a transaction and more like family making it official. For 20 years, Echelon has been built on stability, trust, and a commitment to the people who call it home. To the entire CREATE. team, welcome home! This milestone belongs to everyone on both teams who made it happen. We’re excited for what’s ahead and confident we’re just getting started.”
Kevin Canada, Chief Strategy Officer at Echelon Payments
“Echelon promised us a partnership that would create value for both organizations, and they have more than fulfilled that promise. The past year has shown us that we share much more than a business relationship. We share a vision for how we can grow, serve our customers and create opportunities together. This investment is the natural next step.”
Peter Youngren, CEO of CREATE. Payments
