Payaut, an automated payment solution for online platforms and marketplaces, has announced it has closed an €8 million seed round “led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused venture fund, with participation from existing investors LocalGlobal and Entrée Capital.”
Payaut, which provides a range of financial solutions for online marketplaces, will “use part of the funding to expand its operations across Europe with the roll-out of its new multi-currency platform.” This will “enable customers to accept payments in currencies including USD, GBP, JPY, and AUD.”
By expanding beyond EUR payments, Payaut will also be “positioned to enter markets outside of Europe.” Payaut plans to “begin its expansion drive by increasing its presence in Germany, Southern Europe and the Nordics.”
Founded in late 2019, Payaut also “provides automated solutions such as reconciliation, balance management, invoicing, seller verification through KYC checks, and split payments.”
The API-driven platform “enables customers of any size to efficiently and securely manage their payments and finances while also remaining compliant with legislation such as PSD2.”
Importantly, Payaut acts as “an intermediary between sellers and different Payment Service Providers (PSPs).” As a result, marketplaces are “not dependent on one single PSP but instead can use multiple providers such as Mollie, Adyen, PayPal or Stripe at the same time.”
In addition to further developing its platform, Payaut will also increase its team from 25 to 40 employees over the next year.
Ernst van Niekerk, CEO and Founder of Payaut, said:
“This is a critical step in Payaut’s journey. The funding will enable us to fulfill our ambition to become the solution of choice for marketplace platforms worldwide. Not only will we be able to expand our platform to provide new solutions, we will also be able to increase our presence across a number of major new markets. “We’re very pleased Gradient Ventures has invested. It’s a great vote of confidence in our team and underlines how we have created an offering that appeals to marketplaces and platforms of all sizes.”
Anna Patterson, Managing Partner at Gradient Ventures, remarked:
“Payment gateway-agnostic split payments is a major need for marketplaces and ecommerce companies worldwide. Most companies either build split payments systems themselves or are tied to a payment gateway’s solution that becomes expensive with scale. Payaut’s solution gives payment control back to customers and we’re excited to work with the Payaut team as they enable companies to pay-in and pay-out in multiple currencies globally.”
Payaut is an Amsterdam-based fintech that “offers an automatic payment solution for online platforms and marketplaces.” With Payaut, these online marketplaces can seamlessly “pay their sellers and ensure compliance with PSD2 legislation while having flexibility on which payment provider(s) they use.”
Payaut was founded in late 2019 by Ernst van Niekerk and has “raised a total of €11.65 million in investments from international parties and angel investors from the payment industry.”
Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused venture fund, “helps founders build transformational companies.”
The fund focuses on “helping founders navigate the challenges in developing new technology products, using the latest best practices in recruiting, marketing, design, and engineering so that great ideas can come to life.”
Gradient was “founded in 2017 and is based in Palo Alto, California.”