Manchester-based payments company Ryft has secured a £20 million Series B to support the next stage of its international growth.
The £20 million Series B, led by Gresham House Ventures, follows a period of rapid growth for Ryft. The business tripled its processing volume over the past 12 months and more than 6,500 businesses, including Epos Now, Chaiwalla, the Disasters Emergency Committee, Daytrip and Sprive are now using its payment system.
The investment will support Ryft’s expansion across Europe and the US, while accelerating its product development and move upmarket.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby said: “Ryft’s success is a vote of confidence in Manchester’s thriving fintech sector and shows how British businesses can start, scale and compete on the global stage.”
As part of its European expansion, Ryft has applied for a full EU license from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). With this, Ryft will be able to passport its services across the European Economic Area.
The round also featured participation from existing investors Pembroke VCT and Ingenii Capital, and new investment from NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, which is managed by PXN Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).
“This round of investment means we can take what we’ve built in the UK into new European markets and compete on the global stage,” said Ryft CEO and co-founder Sadra Hosseini.
“Payments have been dominated by a small number of incumbents for a long time. We want to provide a powerful and efficient alternative to businesses, not just in Europe, but globally.”
Founded in 2021 by Alex Mackenzie, Richard Kirby and Hosseini, Ryft builds payment solutions for marketplaces, platforms and multi-location businesses, helping them manage seller onboarding and complex transaction flows, including recurring billing, automated split payments and cross-border payouts, through a single integration.
This enables rapid growth and incredible efficiency while giving merchants the ability to generate additional revenue from the transactions being processed.
Since launch, Ryft has gone on to partner with leading payment companies including Global Payments, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Nuvei. The company is an established part of Manchester’s growing fintech ecosystem, the development of which was championed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham during his time as Mayor of Greater Manchester.
Rohit Mathur, partner at Gresham House Ventures, said: “Modern commerce runs on platforms, from marketplaces and franchises, to creators, and, in time, AI agents, but the payments foundation beneath it was built for a two-party world that no longer exists.
“Ryft is the rare UK-built, FCA-regulated fintech designed for multi-party payments from the ground up, and its best customers are compounding volumes over 100% a year on the platform.
“As commerce shifts to instant, multi-party platforms and increasingly agent-initiated payments, ownership of the infrastructure rails becomes a question of national economic sovereignty, not just merchant cost.
“We’re backing Ryft because the UK needs domestic champions with payment architecture for the next era of commerce, and Ryft is one of them. Sadra, Alex, Richard and the wider team are executing at an impressive pace, and we are proud to back this category-defining Manchester FinTech.”
Fred Ursell, head of investments at Pembroke Investment Managers, commented: “Splitting a payment cleanly between multiple parties is slow, technical, heavily regulated work, which is precisely why the incumbents left it half-served for a decade, and precisely why it was worth building properly.
“We first met Sadra in 2024 and Ryft has since done everything he said it would in that first meeting. Plenty of founders can grow quickly for a year, but not many are deliberately building a team and a culture that will still be compounding in five. This is the third time we have backed Ryft, and our largest investment in the company to date.”
Sue Barnard, senior investment manager at the British Business Bank, added: “Ryft is a great example of the innovative, high-growth technology businesses emerging from the North.
“Supporting businesses like Ryft through the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II aligns with the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, helping to strengthen the UK’s digital economy while creating skilled jobs and driving sustainable growth across the North.”