Stripe rival Ryft raises £1.2m for merchant payment system

Ryft has closed a seed round of funding that brings the total raised by the fintech startup to £1.2m for its automated next-day merchant payments system.

The Ryft seed round was led by SFC Capital, with further investment coming from the ex-founder of Shutterstock and the founder of LoveFilm.

The London-based company’s payment solution integrates into an online marketplace and accepts payments from all major cards, along with Google and Apple Pay.

The company competes with the likes of Stripe Connect, the marketplace payments integration created by Irish-American fintech giant Stripe.

Ryft claims that its solution comes “without the high fees and lengthy payout wait times”, with merchants receiving funds the next working day and Ryft charging a flat fee for each transaction.

“We are excited to work with Ryft in supporting marketplace businesses with a unified payment platform designed to power B2B platforms and provide a seamless experience for merchants and marketplaces,” said Ed Stevenson, investment manager, SFC Capital.

According to the company, its product adheres to PSD2 compliance rules, protect against FCA fines and comply with anti-money laundering rules.

Ryft was founded by Sadra Hosseini and Alex Mackenzie. The idea was inspired by their previous business restaurant ordering app Butlr, which went on to be acquired by OrderPay.

Sadra Hosseini, CEO and founder, Ryft, said: “We are both incredibly excited to be working with SFC Capital to further our ability to provide seamless support to marketplaces and merchants within the industry and continue to solve the current problems associated with complex money routines under PSD2 regulation.”

Payments startup Super this month emerged from stealth with a £22.5m pre-seed for its online checkout payments service.