Amsterdam-based Payaut, a fintech startup that provides an automated payment solution for online platforms and marketplaces, announced on Wednesday that it has closed its Seed round of funding at €8M.
The company has now raised a total of €11.65M in funding from international parties and angel investors from the payment industry.
Investors in this round
The current round was led by Gradient Ventures, the AI-focused venture fund from Google. Existing investors LocalGlobal and Entrée Capital also participated.
Anna Patterson, Managing Partner at Gradient Ventures, says, “In the past, marketplaces and ecommerce companies built split payment systems in-house or were tied to a payment gateway solution. With Payaut, small and medium-size enterprises are empowered to handle KYC/AML, split payments, and multi-PSP configurations themselves. We’re excited to support Ernst and his team as they make this crucial technology more widely available.”
Founded in 2017 in California, Gradient Ventures helps founders build ‘transformational’ companies. The fund focuses on helping founders navigate the challenges in developing new technology products, using the latest practices in recruiting, marketing, design, and engineering so that ‘great’ ideas can come to life.
Funds to expand in Europe
Payaut says that the raised capital will be used in the expansion of its operations across Europe with the roll-out of its new multi-currency platform, which will enable customers to accept payments in currencies including USD, GBP, JPY, and AUD.
By expanding beyond EUR payments, Payaut plans to begin its expansion phase by increasing its presence in Germany, Southern Europe and the Nordics. Besides developing its platform, Payaut will also increase its workforce from 25 to 40 employees over the next year.
Ernst van Niekerk, Founder of Payaut, says, “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, but 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,” adds Niekerk.
Accept and collect payments via any payment service provider of choice
Founded in late 2019 by Ernst van Niekerk and Gillis Haasnoot, Payaut is on a mission to enable online platforms to give buyers and sellers the ‘best’ commerce experience possible. The platform 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. The company obtained its licence to provide payment services from De Nederlandsche Bank (Dutch central bank – DNB) in July, 2021.
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 can use multiple providers such as Mollie, Adyen, PayPal, or Stripe at the same time.
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