Marketplace payments platform Ryft receives FCA licence
Marketplace payments platform Ryft is set to rival Stripe having secured a licence from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The licence enables Ryft to become an independent payment provider without relying on a bank for any of its operations.
Chief executive Sadra Hosseini told Peer-to-Peer Finance News that the licence had been live for around two weeks, following a 15-month licensing process.
“It allows us to fully automate our system, bring our prices down, so we can really compete with the likes of Stripe”, he said.
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“Our main focus is marketplaces on digital platforms. So, we’re hunkering down on that sector of the market. The solution that we built is most suited for digital platforms and we monetise their transactions, so they’re making a whole new revenue stream using it.”
The FCA licence follows a £1.2m seed funding round in August, which enabled the fintech to invest in platform development ahead of a planned Series A round later this year.
Hosseini said working with loans and insurance companies is in the pipeline as the platform features built-in risk assessment tools.
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“We have all the information, all the transaction data on every merchant and every sub-merchant, and we’re able to give them better rates,” Hosseini added.
Ryft was founded a year and a half ago by Hosseini and his friend Alex Mackenzie, who had previously built Butlr, a mobile ordering app for pubs and bars.
The business now consists of a team of 14 and has raised a total of £1.5m.
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