Ryft

Ryft is a Manchester-based payments platform that specialises in helping marketplaces and digital platforms automate their payment flows, manage split payments, and remain fully compliant with FCA regulations and PSD2 rules. The company was founded in 2021 by Sadra Hosseini and Alex Mackenzie, drawing directly on their experience building Butlr, a restaurant ordering and payments app, where they encountered first-hand the limitations of existing payment providers when it came to handling the complex, multi-party transaction flows that marketplace businesses require.

Ryft's platform enables marketplaces to accept online payments, automatically split and route funds to sub-merchants the following business day, onboard and verify merchants compliantly, manage escrow and delayed payments, and earn commission from transactions — all under a single FCA-licensed infrastructure. The company competes with Stripe Connect but positions itself as offering lower fees, faster payouts, and dedicated account management. Ryft has built acquiring partnerships with American Express, Clearhaus, Worldpay, and Visa, and reached profitability within two and a half years of launch.

Ryft raised £1.2 million in seed funding in 2022 led by SFC Capital, secured its FCA licence as an authorised payment institution, and in 2025 closed a £5.7 million Series A led by EdenBase, with participation from Pembroke VCT, Ingenii VC, and the British Business Bank. The company has been growing its gross merchandise value threefold year-on-year and is expanding into European markets and building tools to help acquiring banks compete with large payment processors.