Payments are one of the most fragmented internet services when you deal globally. Paytrix, a UK firm, has secured $18.3 million to provide a single platform and contract to manage all payment modes, from acceptance to payouts.
Uncommon Ventures, Motive Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures co-led Series A. In addition, Bain, Fin Capital, Better Future Ventures, Hambro Perks, ClockTower Ventures, The Fintech Fund, D4 Ventures, and others participated in Paytrix’s previous £5.2 million round in May 2022. Company value is confidential.
Aran Brown (CEO), Ed Addario (CTO), and Edward Harrison (CPO) co-founded Paytrix with decades of experience at a variety of well-known payments, FX, and other fintech companies, which may explain why it was able to raise this money in the most bearish venture market in years and during a much tighter e-commerce market. The service plans an EMI for the UK and Europe, but its license is limited.
Brown said Paytrix has a Payments Institution license in the UK already approved by the FCA, “which is being upgraded to an EMI… alongside a separate application for an EMI in Ireland with the CBI.” Both were applied for last year and “are progressing well” with a team that includes the former CBI Head of Authorisations as its Chair and the former Square International Chief Compliance Officer.
Brown tells me that Paytrix, a “payments curation” platform, negotiates its banking relationships in different countries to bypass card payments and other payment services like Stripe and newer channels like open banking standards.
Brown says Paytrix integrates directly with local payment schemes through tier-one banks or locally integrated payment partners. In addition, Paytrix is acquirer-agnostic, so merchants continue to work with card acquirers like Stripe or whichever service they use. Finally, Paytrix provides local accounts, real-time FX, and instant settlement “to the sellers and downstream beneficiaries” to handle payouts.
The firm now handles payouts in 133 currencies and 200+ countries, including real-time FX.
This arrangement reduces the number of third parties merchants or marketplaces have to engage with, which can add expenses, complexity, and queries from customers moving to third parties to complete payments.
“Enabling global collections which will allow merchants to collect funds in each of the markets they operate in without the burden of identifying, sourcing and contracting with the local banks, or waiting to have sufficient volume to work with a tie,” Brown said. Direct-to-card and virtual card issuing will follow.
Naturally, this may not operate as stated.
Brown claimed Paytrix “does have a handful of customers,” but most are confidential. For example, Florin is a commercial banking platform that offers financial services, while Cardstream is a European payment gateway. He also mentioned a European tickets marketplace and a worldwide “employee of record” tool for managing multinational staff.
Brown said the startup targets e-commerce companies and payroll providers that need to process and handle payments across various regions. The e-commerce opportunity is intriguing: it’s not Amazon, which will build and manage its services, but hundreds of online retailers and marketplaces with more than $1 million in annual revenues but not necessarily the resources to manage multiple supplier relationships, either operationally or technically. Paytrix’s offer is that consumers may now manage one payments supplier instead of 10–15.
Investors feel it’s a safe investment considering the market’s ongoing issues and the team’s track record.
“Paytrix is addressing a crucial need for firms operating in an international marketplace,” said Bain Capital Ventures partner Matt Harris. Paytrix solves the complexity and expense of cross-border payments, a significant issue for scaling organizations. We think there is a global demand for this sort of payments infrastructure and are thrilled to help Paytrix as they expand their offering to businesses worldwide.”
