German FinTech Startup Payrails Secures €27.7 Million in Series A Funding

Introduction to Payrails

Payrails, a global payment software company, has announced that it has raised €27.7 million in Series A funding. This investment will be used to accelerate product innovation, expand the product roadmap, and support commercial growth across EMEA to meet enterprise demand. The round was led by HV Capital’s Growth Fund, with participation from existing investors EQT Ventures, General Catalyst, and Andreessen Horowitz, bringing the total funding raised to over €45.8 million.

Vision and Mission

Orkhan Abdullayev, Co-founder and CEO of Payrails, expressed his gratitude for the trust placed in the company by customers and investors. He stated that their continued support fuels the vision of empowering enterprises with an all-in-one platform to manage every aspect of payments. This vision aims to unlock new levels of performance and innovation while driving down complexity and costs. With this funding, Payrails is doubling down on product development to expand its multi-product platform across the entire payment lifecycle.

Company Background

Founded in 2021 by former FinTech innovators from Delivery Hero, Payrails’ all-in-one platform spans the entire payment lifecycle with a modular architecture. This architecture includes payment orchestration, payouts, tokenisation, unified analytics, automated reconciliation, and recently launched in-person payments. The funding follows a period of notable growth, with Payrails processing over 1 million daily operations, expanding into 30 new markets across Europe and MENA, and attracting enterprise customers across various industries.

Trust and Recognition

Payrails is trusted by global brands such as Puma, Vinted, Flix, InDrive, Just Eat Takeaway, and Careem to boost performance, reduce operational complexity and costs, and enable faster innovation across their payment operations. Alexander Joel-Carbonell, partner at HV Capital, praised the company’s sharp strategic instincts and relentless execution. He highlighted Payrails’ ability to deliver immediate impact, reflected in the caliber of their global enterprise clients and the speed at which they’re scaling.

The Complexity of Enterprise Payment Operations

Enterprise payment operations are becoming increasingly complex and fragmented. Enterprises must manage local payment methods, coordinate multiple Payment Service Providers, sync with internal systems, and comply with evolving regulatory frameworks across multiple markets. This complexity limits agility and hinders innovation. With the global payments market projected to exceed $1.7 trillion in transactions by 2025, scaling payment operations and efficiently managing money movements has become a critical growth lever for large enterprises.

Payrails’ Solution

Payrails addresses this complexity with a payment operating system purpose-built for enterprises. This system allows companies to orchestrate complex payment flows, optimise performance, and abstract the complexity of system integrations. Kaushik Subramanian, partner at EQT Ventures, noted that Payrails is tackling one of the most complex challenges for global enterprises with its unified payment platform. The power lies in composability, offering composable software blocks that give companies commercial flexibility and control.

Integration and Partnerships

Acting as a deeply integrated meta layer, Payrails spans the entire payment lifecycle with a modular architecture. The company works with payment service providers like Stripe, Adyen, fraud-prevention solutions like Forter, software solutions like SAP, Salesforce, Snowflake, and others. This gives enterprises flexibility, visibility, and control of their payment operations and checkout experiences across geographies, channels, and verticals. Earlier this year, Payrails entered a strategic partnership with Mastercard to accelerate digital transformation and unlock next-generation payment capabilities for large-scale enterprises.

Leadership and Growth

To support its continued growth, Payrails is actively growing its commercial and product teams across Berlin, London, Paris, Dublin, Cairo, and Dubai. The company has expanded its leadership team with senior hires, including Edward Moore, Chief Revenue Officer, Willian Carminato, Chief Technology Officer, and Patrick Bellinghausen, VP Finance. Zeynep Yavuz, partner at General Catalyst, praised the exceptional founding team with deep industry experience and a clear vision for simplifying payments while reducing costs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Payrails’ Series A funding is a significant milestone for the company, demonstrating the trust and recognition it has gained in the industry. With its payment operating system, Payrails is well-positioned to address the complexity of enterprise payment operations and support the growth of large enterprises. As the global payments market continues to evolve, Payrails is expected to play a critical role in shaping the future of payments operations. With its strong leadership team, strategic partnerships, and commitment to innovation, Payrails is poised for continued success and growth in the years to come.