UK Payments Startup Ryft Obtains FCA Licence

Ryft, a UK startup hoping to emulate the success of Stripe, has received an FCA licence following its £1.2 million seed raise in September.

Ryft's platform processes marketplace payments and then automatically diverts funds to merchants and sub-merchants the next working day. The API-based package handles everything from accepting online payments, verifying and onboarding merchants, to splitting up the payments however a business wants.

Billing itself as "Stripe Connect without the high fees and lengthy payout wait times", the authorisation of the licence opens up opportunities for Ryft to become a regulated payment facilitator with some of the world’s biggest acquirers.

With the licence in hand, Ryft is to expand its inhouse compliance team with the objective of facilitating more complex payments, enabling B2B digital and marketplace platforms to monetise payments across their technology as well as independently broker relationships with other organisations.

Sadra Hosseini, a founder of Ryft, said, "We are both incredibly proud to have secured our FCA licence after a year and a half. This furthers our ability to provide support to marketplaces and merchants in the industry."

(Source: Finextra)