Payment processing sits at the center of every transaction a business makes, yet most companies treat it as a background function until something breaks. Finix, a San Francisco-based payment processor founded in 2016, was built by people who came from Klarna, PayPal, and Worldpay.
They understood the friction points because they had worked inside the systems that created them. The company raised $75 million in Series C funding in October 2024, led by Acrew Capital with participation from Citi Ventures and others, bringing total funding past $208 million. That capital has allowed the platform to grow into a full-stack processor serving businesses across the United States and Canada.
Direct Card Network Connections
Finix operates as one of the few direct acquirer processors in the country. The platform connects directly to American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa without routing through intermediaries. Sherri Haymond, executive vice president of Digital Partnerships at Mastercard, described Finix as “an exciting and cutting-edge company streamlining modern payments.”
This direct integration matters for a simple reason: fewer middlemen typically means fewer delays and lower costs. When a transaction passes through multiple parties before reaching the card network, each layer can add fees and processing time. Finix removes those steps by handling the connection itself.
What Platform Users Say About Finix
When businesses evaluate payment processors, they often look at transaction volume handling and system reliability as primary indicators. Finix processes 432 million transactions daily across the United States and Canada, and its API maintains uptime of 99.999%. These numbers matter because they show how the platform performs under load, which is why reviews of Finix often cite operational stability alongside factors like onboarding speed, fee transparency, and support responsiveness.
The 2024 UX Design Award judges noted that the dashboard design stems from thorough user research, resulting in a tool that helps with task prioritization and faster decision making. That recognition, combined with CEO Richie Serna’s placement among the Top 40 Trailblazers of Payments by ETA and Discover Global Network, points to a company building around practical usability rather than feature bloat.
API Design and Developer Tools
The Finix API handles billions of calls each year. Businesses can start processing transactions in one day using as few as 3 API endpoints. The platform offers thousands of configuration options, so companies can shape the payment flow to match their specific operations rather than adapting their operations to fit a rigid system.
CEO Richie Serna noted that becoming a payment processor was “hugely transformational” for the business, and Finix has quadrupled its revenue in the last year. That growth came from a product designed around flexibility. The API provides full functionality while still allowing customization, and the dashboard gives non-technical users a way to manage payments without writing code.
No-Code and Low-Code Options
Finix released a suite of features aimed at the 22 million businesses that do not have developers on staff. These include Checkout Pages, Payment Links, Payout Links, Tokenization Forms, Virtual Terminals, and Merchant Onboarding Forms. Setup takes minutes rather than weeks.
Recurring Billing, available through the dashboard, lets businesses create and manage subscription payments, installment plans, donations, and membership fees without touching code. The tool was built to turn a complicated problem into something manageable. Businesses can customize payment plans directly in the interface, adjusting terms and schedules as needed.
Sending Money Out
Finix Payouts allows businesses to send money via ACH, real-time payments, Mastercard Send, and Visa Direct through a single API. The product works as a standalone offering, meaning companies can use it even if they do not process incoming payments through Finix.
The ability to pay out to one recipient or many at once, using the same integration, simplifies treasury operations. Businesses that manage large vendor networks or contractor pools benefit from consolidating disbursements into a single system.
Built-In Compliance and Operations
The platform includes embedded compliance tools, underwriting workflows, fraud monitoring, consolidated reporting, and dispute management. More than 10 report types are automated and accessible through the dashboard.
Merchant Onboarding Forms allow software companies to collect information and onboard merchants while keeping their own branding. The forms are white-labeled, so the merchant sees the software company’s identity throughout the process. Automated underwriting workflows reduce the time between application and approval.
In-Person Payments
Finix supports card-present transactions through integrations with several payment devices. Businesses that operate physical locations can use the same platform for in-store and online sales, unifying their payment data in one place.
Expansion Into Canada
In February 2024, Finix launched in Canada through a partnership with Peoples Trust Company, part of Peoples Group. The expansion brought direct integrations with Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and Discover to Canadian businesses. Companies like Beyond, Passport, Lunchbox, and Cargas already rely on Finix to power payments across industries and geographies.
Partnership With Plaid
Finix partnered with Plaid to provide a fast and secure way to add bank accounts for payments. The integration supports ACH Direct Debits and bank payouts, allowing businesses to verify and link bank accounts without building that functionality themselves.
Who Uses Finix
The platform serves software platforms, online marketplaces, direct merchants, and registered payment facilitators. For software platforms offering embedded payments, Finix handles white-labeled merchant onboarding, custom fee settings, and branded dashboards. The support team operates around the clock to address emergencies.
Finix helps businesses design fee profiles that optimize profitability. The flexibility appeals to companies at different stages, from startups to publicly traded multinationals. The goal is to provide what businesses need to deliver a competent payments operation without building infrastructure from scratch.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — In the cover: Finix Reviews Cover Photo Credit: Yanalya
