Rapyd: The Israeli Global Payments Platform

Fintech · Global Payments · Founded 2015 · Valued $4.5B+ · IPO Candidate

Rapyd is an Israeli global-payments infrastructure platform founded in 2015 that enables businesses to accept, move, and disburse money across 100+ countries using a single API. The company has raised $1B+ in funding, achieved a $4.5 billion valuation, and processes over $1 billion in annual payment volume. Rapyd serves thousands of merchants, financial institutions, and platforms globally, and is widely expected to pursue an IPO or acquisition by 2027–2028.

Founded by Arik Shtilman, Arkady Karpman, and Omer Priel, Rapyd emerged from a founding insight: the global payments infrastructure is fragmented. A business operating in the US needs a US payment processor. To expand to the EU, it needs a European processor. To reach Asia, it needs separate infrastructure. Each integration is complex, expensive, and slow. Rapyd unified that fragmentation into a single API and a single merchant account.

The Problem Rapyd Solves

Global expansion is the biggest operational bottleneck for cross-border businesses. A US fintech wants to expand to 50 countries. The payment infrastructure is the hardest part to solve. Each country has:

Different banking systems and clearing houses
Different regulatory frameworks and compliance requirements
Different local payment methods (ACH in US, SEPA in EU, bank transfers in Asia, mobile money in Africa)
Different currencies and exchange rates
Different fraud and anti-money-laundering (AML) rules

Building payment infrastructure for 50 countries from scratch takes 18–24 months and costs $10–50 million. Rapyd solved this by building once and licensing access to merchants. A merchant connects to Rapyd's API once, and suddenly they have access to payment methods and settlement in 100+ countries.

The Rapyd model is not novel — Stripe and Adyen have done versions of it. The Rapyd innovation is geographic breadth and execution speed. Rapyd entered markets (Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Africa) before Stripe or Adyen did, and moved faster in emerging markets where the regulatory and infrastructure environment was less predictable.

Founding and Early Growth

Rapyd was founded in 2015 in Tel Aviv by Shtilman, Karpman, and Priel. Shtilman had previously worked in Israeli fintech and understood the global payments problem from experience building cross-border systems. The founding team built the core platform in Tel Aviv and established commercial operations in multiple geographies (London, New York, Singapore, São Paulo) to understand local payment systems.

Early growth was focused on underserved markets: Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. These regions have lower payment-infrastructure maturity than the US or EU, but higher growth rates and larger addressable markets. By focusing on emerging markets early, Rapyd avoided competing head-to-head with Stripe and Adyen in the US and EU, and built scale in higher-growth geographies where their infrastructure advantage was most valuable.

By 2020, Rapyd had established itself as the payment infrastructure of choice for cross-border fintech and platforms. The company raised a Series B in 2020 (Stripe being an early investor), then a Series C in 2021 at a $2 billion valuation, a Series D in 2022 at a $4.5 billion valuation, and has held that valuation through 2024–2026.

Product and Merchant Base

Rapyd offers three core products:

Collect: Accept payments from customers in 100+ countries using local payment methods (credit cards, bank transfers, mobile money, e-wallets, etc.). A merchant can integrate once and accept payments in all markets.
Payout: Disburse money to merchants, sellers, or users in 100+ countries. Critical for marketplaces, gig platforms, and cross-border freelance networks.
Settlement: Manage multi-currency wallets and settlement. Merchants can hold balances in different currencies and settle at favorable rates.

Rapyd's merchant base includes:

Fintech and neobanks: Companies like Revolut, Wise, and others use Rapyd for international settlement
Marketplaces: Platforms like Airbnb, TaskRabbit, and regional competitors use Rapyd to pay sellers globally
E-commerce: Cross-border retailers use Rapyd to accept payments in local currencies
Gig platforms: Delivery, ride-share, and freelance platforms use Rapyd to disburse to drivers and workers in emerging markets
Financial institutions: Banks use Rapyd for international transfer infrastructure

The customer base is estimated at 1,000+ merchants and financial institutions, with an additional 250K+ end-users of merchant platforms. Annual payment volume processing is over $1 billion, with strong growth trajectory (estimated 30–50% YoY).

Competitive Position

Rapyd's primary competitors are:

Stripe: Dominant in developed markets, expanding into emerging markets. Larger total volume, but later entrant to Asia/Africa. Focus on payment accepting, not disbursement.
Adyen: European incumbent, strong in EU, smaller presence in emerging markets. Focus on payment processing for enterprise merchants.
Wise (formerly TransferWise): Focused on cross-border remittances and transfers, not merchant payments. High volume in money transfer, smaller in merchant acquiring.
Payoneer: Israeli competitor (now owned by Nuvei), focused on freelancer payouts and gig-economy disbursement. Global reach but smaller than Rapyd in merchant payments.

Rapyd's competitive advantages are:

Emerging-market depth: Presence in Asia, Africa, and LATAM earlier than larger competitors. Deep local banking relationships and regulatory expertise.
Payout focus: While Stripe excels at payment collection, Rapyd has built superior payout infrastructure, particularly valuable for marketplaces and gig platforms.
Speed to market: Israeli startup culture + lean operations = faster product development and market entry compared to European incumbents
Founder expertise: Shtilman and team had deep fintech/payments experience before founding, reducing the learning curve

The competitive moat is narrow but real: relationships with local banks and regulators in emerging markets, and operational depth in low-income payment corridors (Southeast Asia to US, Africa to Europe, LATAM to US). Stripe and Adyen can replicate this, but it takes time and capital.

Business Model and Path to Profitability

Rapyd generates revenue from transaction fees (typically 1–3% of payment volume, depending on corridor and payment method) and subscription/platform fees. The business model is recurring and scalable: as customers process more volume through Rapyd, revenue compounds without incremental product development.

The path to profitability is clear: the company achieved $1B+ in annual payment volume by 2023, and at a 2–3% take rate, that represents $20–30M in gross transaction revenue. Operating expenses are estimated at $150–200M annually (team size ~500–600 globally, significant R&D and regulatory compliance costs). So the company is approaching breakeven on an EBITDA basis and is expected to be sustainably profitable by 2025–2026.

The typical PayPal-Stripe trajectory for payments companies is: growth → profitability → IPO. Rapyd is following that path, which positions it well for public-market entry by 2027–2028.

The Israeli Fintech Pipeline

Rapyd sits in an unusual position in the Israeli tech ecosystem. It is not venture-backed by pure VCs (major investors have been Stripe, Sequoia, TCV, and later Insight Partners). It is not a unicorn by the venture-scale definition (founded 2015, still private in 2026, valued $4.5B). It is a sustainable, profitable (or near-profitable) company that has built a real business rather than chasing growth-at-any-cost.

In the Israeli fintech cohort, Rapyd competes for attention with:

Pagaya: Consumer credit AI, public on Nasdaq since 2022
Lemonade: AI-native insurance, public on Nasdaq since 2020
Fiverr: Freelance services marketplace, public on NYSE since 2019
SailPoint: Identity management, acquired by Thoma Bravo for $6.5B in 2023
Rapyd: Global payments, still private, expected IPO 2027–2028

What sets Rapyd apart is the focus on infrastructure (the plumbing) rather than consumer applications. Rapyd is not selling to consumers; it is selling to platforms and merchants who sell to consumers. That B2B2C model is harder to explain to public-market investors but creates a more defensible moat.

Regulatory Environment and Future

By 2026, Rapyd operates in a substantially clearer regulatory environment than it did in 2015. Most major markets (US, EU, UK, Singapore, Japan, Australia) have established frameworks for payment service providers and digital wallets. This regulatory clarity is a tailwind for Rapyd: the company can invest in growth rather than fighting regulatory battles.

Future growth vectors for Rapyd are:

Vertical deepening: Building industry-specific solutions (e.g., lending platforms, insurance, merchant services) on top of the core payment infrastructure
Geographic expansion: Entering China, India, and other major markets with unique payment ecosystems (currently limited presence)
Crypto integration: Adding stablecoin and blockchain-based settlement options alongside traditional payment methods
Financial services expansion: Offering lending, insurance, or other services to merchants processing high volume

The most likely path is a combination of vertical deepening (building industry-specific products) and geographic expansion (particularly Asia) before IPO.

Key Metrics & Watch Points

Annual Payment Volume: $1B+ (2023–2024)
Merchants/Platforms: 1,000+ active customers
Geographic Coverage: 100+ countries
Company Valuation: $4.5B (2022 Series D)
Funding Raised: $1B+ across multiple rounds
Headcount: ~500–600 globally (2026)
Gross Margin: Estimated 60–70% (high-margin recurring subscription model)
Path to Profitability: Expected EBITDA positive by 2025–2026
Watch: IPO timing (2027–2028), geographic expansion into Asia, payment volume growth rates, competitive pressure from Stripe/Adyen in emerging markets, and regulatory changes in major markets

Why Rapyd Matters to the Olam

Rapyd represents a specific Israeli founder and fintech archetype: the infrastructure builder who stays private longer, focuses on profitability over growth metrics, and builds a real business rather than chasing venture-scale returns. In an ecosystem dominated by early exits (M&A) and venture-backed hyper-growth, Rapyd's patient capital and disciplined growth model is unusual and instructive.

The company also demonstrates how Israeli deep-tech expertise in payments and financial systems can be applied to global markets. Rapyd is not a consumer fintech riding a trend; it is building the plumbing that dozens of other fintechs depend on. That infrastructure-first approach is less visible than consumer apps but potentially more defensible and valuable long-term.

The Olam Editorial Team