Fintech has given merchants and customers more options for making payments, thanks to the wonders of payment processing companies.
Also known as payment processors, these payment companies allow customers to submit payment information through a payment gateway, such as a physical card reader, mobile phone reader or an online payment portal. They then verify payments with the customer’s card network, bank or other financial institution, initiating approved payment transfers into the merchant’s bank account. As a result, customers can complete payments with credit and debit cards, mobile wallets, or Automated Clearing House (ACH) bank transfers, to name a few.
Fintech Payment Processing Companies
While streamlined payments deliver a major boost to small businesses and merchants, larger organizations can also leverage payment companies’ technology to give their broad customer bases more flexibility when paying in person or online. Demand has only increased because of these competitive advantages payment processing tools offer.
To give you an idea of just how big this industry is, consider that the payment processing solutions market is on pace to reach over $190 billion by 2030. With a market that size, there are lots of players out there.
Some digital payment companies specialize in offering buy-now pay-later integrations for e-commerce companies trying to attract younger consumers, while others are peer-to-peer payment platforms that everyday people use to split checks and pay monthly dues. In any case, the goal for payment processing companies is largely the same: making transactions between customers and businesses faster, simpler and more secure.
To help you get oriented, we rounded up the top payment processors and online payment processing services you should know.
Top Fintech Payment Processing Companies
Founded: 2019
Location: Fully Remote
Wingspan is an HR tech company that offers an HR and payroll platform for freelance contractors. Scaled for everything from single-person shops to large companies, the Wingspan platform provides onboarding, payment, benefits and tax compliance for the various contractors a business needs to hire. It integrates with commonly used software like Gusto, DocuSign and QuickBooks. Payments are processed directly through the Wingspan interface, eliminating the need for processing invoices and initiating individual payments.
Founded: 2013
Location: Fully Remote
Circle works with the digital currencies USD Coin and Euro Coin, so businesses can tap into the capabilities of blockchain. As a result, companies can settle transactions almost instantly, add an extra layer of protection to payments and invest funds outside of typical banking hours. Businesses can also compile transaction and treasury reports, making it easy to manage digital assets and keep track of expenses.
Founded: 2011
Location: Seattle, Washington
Remitly is a fintech company that aims to simplify international money transfers and payments. Through its thousands of global bank, mobile money and cash-pickup partners, Remitly enables recipients to have money sent directly to a bank account or collect it in cash. Whether sending money online or through a simple mobile application, Remitly users benefit from tracking capabilities, plus more choices for speed and price of transfer.
Founded: 2009
Location: Austin, Texas
BigCommerce is a platform that allows small businesses and e-commerce shops of all kinds to build powerful online marketplaces and maintain them with ease. The cloud-based design platform includes both responsive templates or the option to build a fully customizable site from scratch, with WordPress integration, mobile optimization, digital wallets and additional capabilities, including the ability to process payments in over 100 currencies.
Founded: 2012
Location: San Francisco, California
Ripple uses blockchain technology to process and secure their RippleNet payment network. With RippleNet, customers have access to a global network of banks and financial institutions, and they can make cross-border payments instantaneously. The company’s blockchain helps to encrypt each payment and allows for each money transfer to be easily traceable.
Founded: 2001
Location: Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Billtrust is a payment cycle solution that automates the invoice-to-payment process. The company provides a range of solutions from credit management and invoicing to virtual payments and cash flow automation. Billtrust works largely with companies in the manufacturing, distribution, transportation, business services and machinery industries.
Founded: 2004
Location: Austin, Texas
Q2 builds fintech platforms for banks and credit unions. With these personalized platforms, banks are able to easily accept loan and credit card payments. Additionally, the company’s analytics dashboard helps banks get to know their customer’s payment habits, so they can craft personalized plans that benefit their members.
Founded: 2005
Location: Austin, Texas
AffiniPay offers industry-specific payment platforms and gateways for professionals working in law, accounting, medical care and associated industries. The platform features open APIs, cybersecurity measures and in-house support to ensure a quality experience for all users, allowing them to schedule recurring payments, link payments to their website and dive into payment analytics to improve finances across the business.
Founded: 2015
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado
BillGO works with banks, fintech customers, billers and consumers to provide an optimized method of making bill payments in one centralized location, leading to fewer missed payments and more time saved. Consumers can integrate their personal expenses into BillGO through powerful APIs and widgets, while banks, fintech companies and billers can adapt BillGO’s technology to better serve customers, facilitate new revenue streams and generate more value from their investments.
Founded: 1992
Location: Denver, Colorado
Procare Solutions offers childcare management software for day care centers, afterschool programs and youth organizations. Payment processing for childcare can be complex, with funds coming from parents as well as from agencies like DHS and Head Start, so Procare handles tuition payments with its daycare billing software, which includes a mobile app with an electronic funds transfer option.
Founded: 2012
Location: New York, New York
Paddle provides full payment infrastructure for SaaS companies, handling every aspect of payments and thus eliminating fragmentation and the need for multiple apps and services to support payment. The Paddle platform works in integrated layers: there’s the commerce layer for checkout, invoicing and subscriptions; the finance layer for payments, fraud protection and tax and compliance; and the data layer for reporting and upsell insights.
Founded: 2011
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Flywire helps craft personalized fintech payment platforms for a variety of international industries, including travel, education and healthcare. Flywire’s global collection network fully reconciles global payments, and even allows for refunding, while keeping all involved parties up-to-date in real time. The University of Pittsburgh and UCLA health are customers who have benefitted from Flywire’s technology.
Founded: 1996
Location: Fully Remote
Onbe helps businesses strategically streamline corporate distributions in order to drive business growth. The company programs optimize functions, employs fraud and risk controls and extends 24/7 support, from the design period to ongoing management. Businesses can access global payment options through this platform alone and navigate between over 145 different currencies.
Founded: 2015
Location: Fully Remote
DailyPay allows for employees to decide when, and how often, they get paid. Employees build up an available balance for each hour they work. Then, they can choose to withdraw the money instantly at any time. When it becomes time for the official company payday, the amount the employees have already withdrawn is automatically reduced from their overall check. Industries have seen as high as a 73 percent improvement in employee turnover.
Founded: 2016
Location: Los Angeles, California
Sunbit is a third-party, buy-now-pay-later payment processor that targets large urgent expenses like dental work, medical treatment, auto repair, home improvements and veterinary care. With a 90 percent approval rate and no fees or penalties, necessary expenses are made immediately accessible for consumers who would otherwise defer them. Merchants can offer access to an application at their point-of-sale or can offer co-branded credit cards to their clients.
Founded: 2018
Location: Austin, Texas
Billd is a payment solution for the construction industry that allows contractors to acquire the supplies they need to complete a job and pay suppliers over a period of time. Suppliers are paid upfront by Billd before shipping any products to contractors while builders have a 120-day term to pay their balance, making it so cashflow never gets in the way of accepting exceptional jobs.
Founded: 2012
Location: San Francisco, California
Checkout.com provides a digital platform that empowers small businesses and global brands alike to take their checkout process to the next level. The platform offers a convenient solution for both sending and receiving payments from popular global payment methods, operating as a gateway, risk engine, acquirer and processor while featuring powerful fraud protection, convenient integrations and reporting data that helps raise conversions while lowering friction.
Founded: 2015
Location: Austin, Texas
Everyware is a payment engagement platform that helps businesses strengthen customer loyalty through seamless payment experiences. The platform can be integrated with existing accounting and management software, allowing for simplified invoicing, two-way messaging and payments. The company also makes in-person POS systems.
Founded: 2002
Location: Waltham, Massachusetts
BlueSnap assists businesses with its all-in-one payment platform. The platform provides services like POS systems, mobile checkout and subscription services. Other features within these services include fraud prevention, chargeback management and global payment types. BlueSnap can also be integrated with tools like Salesforce for easy access to payment data.
Founded: 2008
Location: New York, New York
Since 2009, more than $660 million has been donated to impoverished people through GiveDirectly’s giving payment platform. GiveDirectly delivers its donations in cash to allow people to choose how the money is spent. With the help of its live news feed, the company discovered that the cash was often spent on school fees, business funding and cows. Donors can choose between a range of programs that focus on basic income, emergency relief, large transfers and more.
Founded: 2018
Location: Fully Remote
Moov Financial oversees the entire money movement process through its all-in-one payment processor. With the processor, businesses can add the API to accelerate process tools and efficiently scale with cloud-native features. The company also offers Moov Wallets for automatic ledger movement in real time. The feature supports instant transfers, card disputes, payment history and more.
Founded: 2013
Location: Fully Remote
Zone gives companies access to NetSuite’s capabilities with a range of services, making it easier to implement and master elements of NetSuite’s cloud platform. In addition, customers can increase the pace even more with Zone applications that centralize data and keep financial information all in one place. With native, integrated and hybrid technology suites, Zone allows customers to tailor the company’s products to their business’ needs.
Founded: 2015
Location: Fully Remote
Stem Disintermedia is a distribution and payments agency for artists in the music business. It offers royalty services, distribution, scaling and financial tools for independent artists, talent managers and labels. When an artist, manager or label signs on with Stem, they get payment processing tools that allow them to track and recoup expenses and to distribute earnings across their team with automated monthly payments made to each collaborator.
Founded: 2013
Location: Chicago, Illinois
CityBase designs technology to consolidate how people secure and pay for public services. These services often involve business permitting, property taxes, utility payments and more. The company offers two products: CityBase Pay, which allows for seamless payment options online and in-person, and CityBase Serve, an assistance platform for residents to learn, apply and receive public services.
Founded: 2015
Location: Austin, Texas
As payment technology continues to rapidly evolve, Episode Six is providing solutions for financial institutions globally. Episode Six creates wallet management and API-based payment processing systems that are adaptable through the platform Tritium. The cloud-based platform serves as the foundation for institutions, so they can adjust to customer needs. From there, clients can add the E6Issuing and E6Wallet products to enhance features like transaction databases and business reports.
Founded: 2008
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Doxo is an all-in-one bill payment platform that enables its users to pay their bills from a single account. Instead of having separate accounts for each utility, insurance or city government expense, Doxo users can log in to its site and send their money through the secure platform to the more than 120,000 payable billers in their system. The platform is also available in an app and sends alerts to keep you on top of all your different bills.
Founded: 2018
Location: New York, New York
Mesh Payments empowers finance managers to gain more visibility into corporate spending. The company designed a centralized and automated spend management platform that produces insights for each payment, spend limits, vendor locks, permission controls and spend reports. Mesh Payments also has virtual and physical cards that connect directly to the platform.
Founded: 2014
Location: San Francisco, California
Bolt provides frictionless payment processing and fraud protection for e-commerce sites. The platform reduces the number of abandoned shopping carts with features like passwordless login, shipping services, the ability to process payments from various digital formats and integrations with popular payment gateways like PayPal, Apple Pay and Klarna. Bolt’s network also allows businesses to more quickly recognize customers, giving more buyers access to one-click checkout.
Founded: 2018
Location: New York, New York
Melio’s platform creates new ways for businesses to pay each other. Melio can sync to accounting software, complete international payments, combine payments and more. The company strives for efficiency while also improving cash flows for both businesses involved. Businesses, vendors or contractors receiving the payment are not required to sign up for the platform either. Melio also offers an accountant dashboard for setting approval workflows and just managing payments overall.
Founded: 2005
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Klarna makes a buy-now-pay-later product that e-commerce companies use to cater to customers who prefer flexible payment options. With Klarna, shoppers can pay in four installments without interest or fees, and even arrange a financing plan that spans up to 24 months. The company’s Klarna Card can also be used to earn redeemable points, fostering customer loyalty over the long haul.
Founded: 2016
Location: Boulder, Colorado
Arryved makes point-of-sale solutions — like digital ordering and mobile POS — for restaurants, breweries and cideries. The company offers features such as an online storefront and loyalty program, making it easier for businesses to follow a flexible service model. Businesses also receive access to reports for following compliance laws, tracking sales and making adjustments to accommodate their customers’ preferences.
Founded: 2018
Location: Austin, Texas
Through a single API, Routefusion helps businesses with cross-border payments and expansion goals. The platform primarily works with neobanks, platforms, marketplaces and payroll providers who want to venture into the international market first. The businesses receive access to implementation teams and products, allowing them to create a customized integration and onboarding plan. Some of the products by Routefusion include international banking accounts, FX transactions and local payment methods.
Founded: 2016
Location: Fully Remote
Papaya Payments is working to eliminate the stress of paying bills by minimizing the payment process. From water bills to parking tickets, the app removes complicated portals. Customers just take a picture of their bill, select the form of payment and click submit. The app also tracks the bill status to ensure each payment is completed. Businesses can also embed Papaya Payments into their bill pay options.
Founded: 1851
Location: Denver, Colorado
With over a century-and-a-half of experience, Western Union is a multinational financial services company people rely on to send money, pick up cash and track wire transfers. The company has lots of physical locations, but it also has a mobile app that can be used to conveniently send money online, pay bills and view exchange rates.
Founded: 2017
Location: San Francisco, California
SpotOn is dedicated to helping small businesses streamline operations, connect with customers and increase revenue by providing them with an end-to-end solution for managing all of their payments needs. From point-of-sale hardware for businesses of all kinds to powerful software that makes payments, appointments, online ordering, delivery virtual terminals and more a breeze, SpotOn helps small businesses build more revenue.
Founded: 2012
Location: Fully Remote
Affirm offers e-commerce shoppers the ability to pay off their purchases over an extended period. With different payment plan options, shoppers can buy everything from vacations to shoes and cars, and pay them off over a few weeks or months instead of all at once. Affirm also lets customers know upfront the total amount they’ll owe and includes no late fees, keeping plans transparent and more affordable.
Founded: 2010
Location: Sunnyvale, California
Clover offers an all-in-one payments solution to small businesses that allows them to take payments, manage invoicing, take online orders and much more. The platform is available on a variety of Clover’s own all-in-one POS devices as well as software that can be run on laptops, phones or tablets, making it possible to do business virtually anywhere.
Founded: 2007
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Braintree, a service of PayPal, is a payment platform for enterprises to accept and process mobile payments from apps and websites that helps decrease cart abandonment and drive conversion rates. Braintree’s payment and mobile tools let companies like Casper and StubHub spend more time on important tasks and less time on transactional needs.
Founded: 2010
Location: San Francisco, California
Stripe provides financial and software services to companies with online businesses like subscription services, on-demand marketplaces and crowdfunding. Businesses can accept fast online payments, design user-friendly payment forms or adopt Stripe Terminal for POS transactions. With the ability to detect online threats via machine learning and transfer data into a company’s preferred data warehouse, Stripe gives clients a clear view of their operations as well.
Founded: 2009
Location: New York, New York
Also a service of PayPal, Venmo is a mobile payment platform for users to digitally send money to one another and make purchases. The platform allows users to link cards or bank accounts so money can be transferred quickly to other users or merchants. Venmo even offers its own credit and debit cards, which come with perks like free ATM withdrawals, unlimited cash back and contactless shopping.
Founded: 2017
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Owned by the financial services company Early Warning Services, Zelle is a person-to-person payment application that sends money quickly. The application enables users to send money with an email address or phone number, even if the sender and recipient use different banks. More than 1,700 financial institutions have integrated Zelle into their mobile banking apps, so customers don’t need to download a separate app for Zelle.