Technology

Posted on October 1, 2019 by staff

‘FinTech-as-a-service’ firm a near-unicorn after $100m fund

Technology

London ‘FinTech-as-a-service’ platform Rapyd has closed a $100m funding round.

The firm enables businesses to be paid and consumers to pay in the way they prefer.

It is designed to give businesses a ‘white label’ method to accept cash, bank transfers, payments from ‘e-wallets’, local debit cards, and over 500 alternative payment methods in over 100 countries.

It puts the firm up against rivals including PayPal, Stripe, and Adyen.

The funding round is being led by Oak HC/FT with participation from Tiger Global, Coatue, General Catalyst, Target Global, Stripe, and Entrée Capital.

The latest funding follows a $40m raise in February and brings the firm’s valuation to nearly $1bn.

Its CEO Arik Shtilman, who cofounded the firm in 2016, said the round will accelerate its network and its cloud-based financial services tools.

“Global commerce is at a critical inflection point as businesses are pressed to launch new applications, process and accept local payment methods, disburse funds, and manage risk and compliance so they can offer highly localized customer experiences without having to build their own infrastructure,” he said.

“The expectation today is that this must happen around the world in order to drive growth into new markets. As more than half of all transactions worldwide are facilitated via bank transfers and cash, merchants find it increasingly difficult to digitally enable local payment methods and process cross-border sales that are required for international expansion.”

The expectation today is that this must happen around the world in order to drive growth into new markets. As more than half of all transactions worldwide are facilitated via bank transfers and cash, merchants find it increasingly difficult to digitally enable local payment methods and process cross-border sales that are required for international expansion.”

Shtilman said the platform has been used by four billion consumers, and it counts around 50 businesses in its client base.