Rapyd – History, Founders, Business Model, Investors & Growth

Rapyd is a fast-growing financial technology (fintech) startup that has gained significant attention and recognition for its innovative solutions in the realm of global payments and commerce infrastructure. Founded in 2015 by Arik Shtilman, Arkady Karpman, and Omer Priel, Rapyd has emerged as a key player in the digital economy, enabling businesses to seamlessly navigate the complexities of global transactions and expand their reach across borders.

At its core, Rapyd aims to simplify and accelerate the process of conducting online transactions and enabling cross-border commerce. By leveraging its robust platform and extensive network of partners, Rapyd provides businesses with a comprehensive suite of services that cover the entire payment ecosystem. This includes capabilities such as payment collection, disbursements, compliance, foreign exchange, and fraud prevention, all seamlessly integrated into a single unified solution.

The driving force behind Rapyd’s success lies in its ability to offer businesses the infrastructure they need to accept payments from customers anywhere in the world. By leveraging a vast network of payment methods, including credit and debit cards, bank transfers, e-wallets, and local payment options, Rapyd ensures that businesses can cater to the preferences and behaviors of their customers, regardless of their location. This global reach is critical for companies looking to expand into new markets and tap into the ever-growing global consumer base.

Moreover, Rapyd’s technology stack is designed to provide businesses with a frictionless and secure payment experience. Its robust API integration allows for seamless integration into existing business systems, enabling swift deployment and reducing the time and effort required to implement new payment capabilities. Rapyd also places a strong emphasis on compliance and risk management, ensuring that businesses can navigate complex regulatory environments and mitigate fraud risks effectively.

Rapyd’s impact extends beyond its payment capabilities. The company’s value proposition lies in its ability to empower businesses by offering a complete infrastructure for global commerce. By streamlining the complexities of cross-border transactions, businesses can focus on their core operations and leverage Rapyd’s solutions to expand their customer base, increase revenue streams, and drive growth.

As a testament to its success, Rapyd has rapidly garnered attention from investors and secured substantial funding. In 2022, Rapyd raised $1.5 billion in Series E funding. The funding round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and it valued Rapyd at $8.5 billion. The funding will be used to expand Rapyd’s global reach, develop new products and services, and acquire other companies.

Founding History of Rapyd

Rapyd was founded in 2015 by a team of visionary entrepreneurs: Arik Shtilman, Arkady Karpman, and Omer Priel. The founders recognized the growing need for a comprehensive and efficient solution to facilitate global payments and enable cross-border commerce in the increasingly digital and interconnected world.

The journey of Rapyd began when Arik Shtilman, the CEO, identified the challenges faced by businesses in navigating the complexities of global transactions. He observed that the traditional methods of payment processing were fragmented, time-consuming, and often hindered businesses from expanding their operations globally. Motivated by the desire to address these pain points, Shtilman embarked on creating a unified solution that would simplify cross-border payments and enable seamless global commerce.

To bring his vision to life, Shtilman teamed up with Arkady Karpman and Omer Priel, who shared his passion for innovation and disruption in the fintech industry. Karpman, with his deep experience in banking and payments, brought valuable expertise in understanding the intricacies of the financial ecosystem. Priel, on the other hand, had a strong background in technology and software development, making him instrumental in building the robust infrastructure required for their ambitious undertaking.

Together, the founders set out to develop a comprehensive platform that would encompass the entire payment ecosystem, from payment collection and disbursements to compliance and currency conversion. They aimed to create a solution that would eliminate the complexities and barriers associated with cross-border transactions, enabling businesses to seamlessly transact with customers around the world.

The founders of Rapyd leveraged their collective expertise and industry insights to design an innovative technology stack that could integrate with various payment methods and financial institutions globally. This involved forging partnerships with banks, payment networks, and other fintech companies to build a vast network that would support their platform’s capabilities.

In 2016, Rapyd secured its initial seed funding, which provided the necessary resources to further develop and refine its payment infrastructure. As the platform continued to evolve, Rapyd gained recognition and momentum, attracting the attention of prominent investors and strategic partners who recognized the immense potential of its offering.

Over subsequent funding rounds, Rapyd successfully raised substantial capital, enabling the company to accelerate its growth, expand its product offerings, and enhance its technological capabilities. This funding has played a crucial role in establishing Rapyd as a key player in the fintech landscape and has fueled its global expansion efforts.

Since its founding, Rapyd has made significant strides in reshaping the payments and commerce infrastructure space. The company’s commitment to innovation, combined with its collaborative partnerships and customer-centric approach, has driven its rapid growth and positioned it as a trusted provider of global payment solutions.

Today, Rapyd continues to evolve and revolutionize the fintech industry, empowering businesses of all sizes to navigate the complexities of global commerce seamlessly. With its strong foundation, visionary leadership, and dedication to simplifying cross-border transactions, Rapyd is poised to shape the future of global payments and drive the digital economy forward.

Business Model of Rapyd

Rapyd offers an end-to-end payment solutions platform, enabling merchants and other clients to accept payments from various sources without having to navigate complex processes associated with traditional banking infrastructure. With services tailored to support global expansion efforts of companies entering untapped regions, Rapyd helps simplify cross-border transactions while providing advanced security measures and seamless operational efficiencies. Let’s break down how their business model works:

Payment processing aggregation: At its core, Rapyd gathers numerous payment methods from localized markets around the world and consolidates them onto one integrated platform accessible through APIs and SDKs. This eliminates the need for individual integration work required by each merchant for every distinct country where they operate or want to explore opportunities. Instead of dealing with multiple banks and networks, Rapyd becomes a single point of contact for managing transactions originating from a plethora of sources.

Multi-currency capabilities: Rapyd enables processing of multiple currencies, ensuring hassle-free transactions regardless of whether customers use dollars, euros, yen, pounds, pesos, rupees, or any other widely accepted currency. Merchants can receive funds in their preferred base currency, simplifying international trade and ecommerce activities without getting bogged down by foreign exchange complications.

Local wallets integration: Recognizing regional differences in payment preferences, Rapyd supports several types of digital wallet links, letting users settle accounts using familiar interfaces like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Samsung Pay, WeChat Pay, AliPay, QR code scanning, and others adapted to cultural inclinations within particular countries. Seamless compatibility minimizes friction during checkout or recurring payments scenarios, fostering higher conversion rates and improved long-term client relationships.

Omnichannel enablement: The platform optimizes both offline and online transaction processes by facilitating real-time fund transfers across various channels, such as POS devices in brick-and-mortar stores, kiosks, virtual terminals, wearables, invoices, automated clearinghouse (ACH), and many others. By allowing multifaceted payment touchpoints within a flexible, scalable architecture, Rapyd empowers businesses to reach broader audiences and accommodate diverse shopping behaviors, thereby increasing sales potential and reducing abandoned cart abandonment issues stemming from restrictive payment options.

Risk management and fraud detection: As part of its commitment to robust security standards, Rapyd implements risk assessment protocols leveraging machine learning algorithms to flag suspicious transactions before settlement approvals. Advanced techniques monitor large volumes of data points, detect unusual activity patterns, and prevent potential losses caused by fraudulent practices. Additionally, partnerships with specialized cybersecurity providers supplement Rapyd’s internal defenses against unauthorized intrusions and malware attacks targeting sensitive financial information belonging to customers and businesses utilizing the platform.

Compliance management: Given the complexity of regulations governing different countries and payment systems, Rapyd handles licensing obligations, regulatory mandates, anti-money laundering (AML) controls, Know Your Customer (KYC) verification procedures, and related compliance matters, freeing up merchants to concentrate on growth initiatives instead of becoming experts in disparate jurisdictional guidelines. By streamlining this essential aspect of payment handling, Rapyd encourages widespread adoption of its innovative solutions while meeting stringent legal prerequisites.

Acquiring bank partnerships: To provide efficient financing backbones, Rapyd collaborates with reputable acquiring banks spanning Europe, North America, South America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and beyond. These strategic alliances allow Rapyd to issue Visa/Mastercard card products globally, permitting merchants to engage customers seeking credit card purchases. Furthermore, strong connections with major issuing and acquiring entities enhance accessibility to credit facilities, ensuring smooth transaction flow irrespective of geographic locations and market segments served.

B2B billing & reconciliation: Acknowledging the vital role played by enterprises in cross-border commerce, Rapyd caters to bulk commercial payments, including recurring subscriptions and variable volume orders requiring regular updates on sales, tax compliance, receivables tracking, dispute resolutions, refunds, expense allocation, budget forecasting, and centralized account management functionalities. These professional tools enable seamless interactions between participating organizations, reducing administrative overheads, errors, miscommunications, or delays inherent in manual operations or substandard platforms not suited for evolving corporate needs.

Third-party integrations via API Marketplace: Rapyd promotes development flexibility by opening up its payment gateway ecosystem to external developers via an open API (Application Programming Interface) Marketplace. Partners are invited to build custom applications connecting popular software, CRM systems, inventory management tools, ERP packages, order fulfillment platforms, shipping, logistics, reporting frameworks, analytics dashboards, customer service chatbot plugins, social media extensions, mobile app tie-ins, and more, enhancing the overall utility of Rapyd’s flagship offerings throughout value creation chains within target industries.