FinTech News
“FinTech as a Service” Company Rapyd Raises $300 Million
As a record year for FinTech continues, this week, Rapyd announced that it had raised another $300 million. The Series E round was led by Target Global with participation from new investors Fidelity Management and Research Company, Altimeter Capital, Whale Rock Capital, BlackRock Funds, and Dragoneer as well as returning investors General Catalyst, Latitude, Durable Capital Partners, Tal Capital, Avid Ventures, and Spark Capital. To date, Rapyd has now raised a total of $770 million, including a $300 million Series D in January of this year.
Rapyd bills itself as a “FinTech as a Service” startup. According to their site, the payment platform is already used by such brands as Ikea, Uber, and others. With the newly-raised funds, the company plans on not only expanding its reach geographically but also scaling into other verticals.
Another use for the funds raised this round cited by Rapyd is making additional strategic acquisitions. On that front, news this funding round comes just over a month after the firm announced plans to acquire the European payments and card issuing company Valitor in a deal valued at $100 million. Also notable is that, in June, Rapyd launched Rapyd Ventures, which will invest in other FinTechs. According to the company, the fund will look to work with startups who are in between their seed and Series B funding rounds, helping them to accelerate their growth.
Speaking to the company’s overall goals, Rapyd co-founder and CEO Arik Shtilman stated, “Enabling digital payments has become one of the most fundamental business needs across every industry as the past year and a half have irrevocably demonstrated. Being in a position to help companies enhance their ability to serve customers and expand their reach across global markets is both a tremendous responsibility and an extraordinary opportunity. We are grateful to our investors for acknowledging the new needs of our ecosystem and supporting our aspirations.”
As for what the firm hopes to achieve with the investment funds, Shtilman added, “We plan to use the funding to continue to build out our global FinTech as a service platform and invest in strengthening our network capabilities worldwide. We will continue to expand our presence across high-growth markets in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the US, and Latin America, where Rapyd’s platform can support businesses looking to grow internationally. We are doubling down on our channel partnerships strategy, strengthening our footprint across major high-growth markets, and exploring additional acquisitions that serve our strategic goals.”
With another “megadeal” in the books, the FinTech sector seems on track for another blockbuster quarter and a record-breaking year. As for Rapyd, it will interesting to see which firms they choose to invest in with their recently launched Rapyd Ventures fund as well as what startups end up on their acquisition radar. With those elements in mind, this is unlikely to be the last we hear of Rapyd.
