Ryft raises £20 million to ‘compete globally’

A Manchester payments technology company has raised £20 million to accelerate its expansion across Europe and the US following a year of rapid growth.

Ryft has secured the Series B investment in a round led by Gresham House Ventures, with existing investors Pembroke VCT and Ingenii Capital also participating.

The company has tripled its processing volume during the past 12 months, with more than 6500 businesses now using its payment system.

The funding will support further product development and Ryft’s push into larger high-growth and enterprise organisations alongside its international expansion.

As part of its European plans, the company has applied for a full EU licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority, which would allow it to offer its services across the European Economic Area.

Ryft’s chief executive and co-founder Sadra Hosseini said: “This round of investment means we can take what we’ve built in the UK into new European markets and compete on the global stage. 

“Payments have been dominated by a small number of incumbents for a long time. 

“We want to provide a powerful and efficient alternative to businesses, not just in Europe, but globally.”

Founded in 2021 by Sadra, Alex Mackenzie and Richard Kirby, Ryft develops payment technology for marketplaces, platforms and multi-location businesses.

Its system supports services including seller onboarding, recurring billing, automated split payments and cross-border payouts through a single integration.

Ryft has also established partnerships with payment businesses including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Global Payments and Nuvei.

Rohit Mathur, partner at Gresham House Ventures, which led the round, added: “Modern commerce runs on platforms, from marketplaces and franchises, to creators, and, in time, AI agents, but the payments foundation beneath it was built for a two-party world that no longer exists. 

“Ryft is the rare UK-built, FCA-regulated fintech designed for multi-party payments from the ground up, and its best customers are compounding volumes over 100 per cent a year on the platform. 

“As commerce shifts to instant, multi-party platforms and increasingly agent-initiated payments, ownership of the infrastructure rails becomes a question of national economic sovereignty, not just merchant cost. 

“We’re backing Ryft because the UK needs domestic champions with payment architecture for the next era of commerce, and Ryft is one of them. 

“Sadra, Alex, Richard and the wider team are executing at an impressive pace, and we are proud to back this category-defining Manchester fintech!” 

Fred Ursell, head of investments at Pembroke Investment Managers, added: “Splitting a payment cleanly between multiple parties is slow, technical, heavily regulated work, which is precisely why the incumbents left it half-served for a decade, and precisely why it was worth building properly. 

“We first met Sadra in 2024 and Ryft has since done everything he said it would in that first meeting. 

“Plenty of founders can grow quickly for a year, but not many are deliberately building a team and a culture that will still be compounding in five. 

“This is the third time we have backed Ryft, and our largest investment in the company to date.”

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