Payments infrastructure investors endorsing payment rails startups in 2026

Global payment volumes topped $2.3T in digital transactions during 2025. Every company building payment infrastructure needs investors who understand interchange economics and processor margins. These 20 investors closed deals in 2025-2026 and know what sustainable payment processing looks like.

Quick list

Picking the right payments infrastructure investor

Experience: Find investors who've backed companies through card network rule changes or processor migrations. Most seed investors don't understand interchange optimization or network fees.

Network: Check if they can intro you to card networks, processors, or merchant acquirers. Those relationships are harder to build than generic fintech connections. Protect sensitive deal terms with strong screenshot protection when sharing documents.

Alignment: Early-stage investors often don't understand what happens when you cross $1B in TPV and need direct acquiring relationships. Your compliance and infrastructure costs will increase significantly.

Track record: Look at whether their portfolio companies successfully scaled processing volumes without margin compression. Companies stuck at sub-1% margins aren't sustainable. Use Ellty to share your deck with trackable links and review deck activity to see who actually opens your interchange structure and processing cost breakdown.

Value-add: Ask what operational support they provided when portfolio companies dealt with chargebacks spikes or network compliance issues. Generic "we have payment experts" answers mean nothing without specific examples, especially if they ignore basic GDPR principles.

How to approach payments infrastructure investors

Identify potential investors: Research which funds backed payment companies through the 2023 interchange fee debates. Pre-seed funds won't understand your Series B processor economics, but established firms in venture capital typically will.

Craft a compelling pitch: Show your processing margins and chargeback rates upfront. Most investors are tired of TPV growth projections without actual unit economics and network fee structures.

Share your pitch deck: Upload to Ellty and send trackable links. Monitor which pages investors spend time on. If they skip your processor relationship slides, they probably don't understand payment infrastructure economics.

Utilize your network: Message portfolio founders on LinkedIn and ask about actual help with processor negotiations or card network relationships. Most will tell you which investors have real payment industry connections. These candid insights often matter more when you send documents.

Attend networking events: Money 20/20 and Fintech Devcon are where processor relationships happen. Skip the generic payment conferences with no actual infrastructure builders.

Engage on online platforms: Connect with partners on LinkedIn after you've been introduced by someone in payments. Cold outreach rarely works in payment infrastructure.

Organize due diligence: Set up an Ellty data room with your processor agreements, interchange structures, and chargeback data before they ask. It speeds up diligence significantly.

Set up introductory meetings: Lead with your processing margins and network relationships. Don't waste 30 minutes on payment market size slides they've seen hundreds of times.

Why this matters now

Real-time payment adoption increased 67% in 2025. Instant payment rails like FedNow and RTP are changing infrastructure requirements. Cross-border payment costs dropped to 2.1% average in 2025 down from 6.3% in 2020. Investors want to see how you're capturing margin in a commoditizing market. Regulatory pressure on interchange fees means your margin assumptions from 2023 don't work anymore.

20 best payments infrastructure investors

1. Andreessen Horowitz

Their fintech team understands payment infrastructure and has direct relationships with card networks and processors.

• Recent Deals: Stripe ($200M payment orchestration expansion, Feb 2025), Tally (payment automation, 2025)
• LinkedIn: Andreessen Horowitz
• Sector Focus: Payment rails, processing platforms, payment orchestration, merchant acquiring
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Location: Menlo Park, USA
• Website: a16z.com

2. Insight Partners

They backed Checkout.com to $40B valuation and understand payment processing at global scale.

• Recent Deals: Checkout.com ($1B Series D, $40B valuation, Jun 2025), Adyen (continued investment, 2025)
• LinkedIn: Insight Partners
• Sector Focus: Payment processing, merchant acquiring, cross-border payments, payment gateways
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth, late-stage
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: insightpartners.com

3. Ribbit Capital

They move fast on payment infrastructure deals and backed Stripe's expansion into multiple product lines.

• Recent Deals: Stripe (treasury and payment products, 2025), Brex (payment infrastructure, 2025)
• LinkedIn: Ribbit Capital
• Sector Focus: Payment APIs, treasury infrastructure, payment processing, merchant tools
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Website: ribbitcap.com

4. Index Ventures

They backed Adyen early and understand payment infrastructure business models and margin dynamics.

• Recent Deals: PayPal Braintree initiatives ($180M strategic investment, 2025), Storfund (merchant cash advance, 2025)
• LinkedIn: Index Ventures
• Sector Focus: Payment gateways, cross-border rails, merchant acquiring, payment APIs
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: London, UK & San Francisco, USA
• Website: indexventures.com

5. Coatue

They write large checks for payment processing scale-ups and understand global payment infrastructure.

• Recent Deals: Checkout.com ($1B Series D participation, 2025), Stripe (previous rounds)
• LinkedIn: Coatue
• Sector Focus: Payment processing, merchant acquiring, cross-border infrastructure, payment platforms
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth, late-stage
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: coatue.com

6. Tiger Global

They backed Rapyd's cross-border infrastructure and move quickly on payment processing deals.

• Recent Deals: Rapyd ($150M Series E, Oct 2025), Pismo (payment processing, 2025)
• LinkedIn: Tiger Global Management
• Sector Focus: Cross-border payments, payment processing, merchant acquiring, fintech infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: tigerglobal.com

7. Accel

They backed Primer's payment orchestration platform and understand payment infrastructure APIs.

• Recent Deals: Primer ($50M Series B, Mar 2026), Ramp (payment infrastructure, previous rounds)
• LinkedIn: Accel
• Sector Focus: Payment orchestration, payment APIs, infrastructure platforms, merchant tools
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: Palo Alto, USA
• Website: accel.com

8. DST Global

They backed Stripe's global expansion and focus on payment platforms with strong unit economics.

• Recent Deals: Stripe ($300M payment operations investment, 2025), Klarna (BNPL infrastructure, 2025)
• LinkedIn: DST Global
• Sector Focus: Payment platforms, global payment infrastructure, merchant services, processing
• Stage Focus: Series C, growth, late-stage
• Location: Hong Kong
• Website: dstglobal.com

9. General Catalyst

They led Spreedly's payment orchestration round and understand payment routing complexity.

• Recent Deals: Spreedly ($80M Series C, $200M valuation, Aug 2025), Ramp (previous rounds)
• LinkedIn: General Catalyst
• Sector Focus: Payment orchestration, payment routing, infrastructure APIs, merchant platforms
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: Cambridge, USA
• Website: generalcatalyst.com

10. PayPal Ventures

They understand merchant acquiring economics and back platforms that complement PayPal's infrastructure.

• Recent Deals: Finix ($75M Series C, Jan 2026), TreviPay (B2B payments, 2025)
• LinkedIn: PayPal Ventures
• Sector Focus: Merchant acquiring, payment facilitators, B2B payments, payment infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: San Jose, USA
• Website: paypal.com/ventures

11. Worldpay Ventures

Corporate VC that helps with processor relationships and understands acquiring economics deeply.

• Recent Deals: Payment gateway middleware (multiple investments, 2025-2026), Processor integration tools
• LinkedIn: Worldpay
• Sector Focus: Payment gateways, processor middleware, merchant acquiring, payment infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, growth
• Location: Cincinnati, USA
• Website: worldpay.com

12. Bain Capital Ventures

They backed Parafin's embedded payment infrastructure and understand payment facilitator models.

• Recent Deals: Parafin ($60M Series B, May 2025), Wayflyer (merchant cash advance, 2025)
• LinkedIn: Bain Capital Ventures
• Sector Focus: Payment facilitators, embedded payments, merchant financing, payment APIs
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Website: baincapitalventures.com

13. Lightspeed Venture Partners

They focus on payment verification and infrastructure APIs for financial services.

• Recent Deals: Pinwheel ($50M Series B, Feb 2026), Alloy (payment verification, 2025)
• LinkedIn: Lightspeed Venture Partners
• Sector Focus: Payment verification, payment APIs, infrastructure tools, merchant platforms
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Location: Menlo Park, USA
• Website: lsvp.com

14. GV (Google Ventures)

They backed Dwolla's ACH infrastructure and understand payment automation at scale.

• Recent Deals: Dwolla ($21M Series D extension, 2025), Amount (payment automation, 2025)
• LinkedIn: GV
• Sector Focus: ACH infrastructure, payment automation, bank transfers, payment APIs
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: Mountain View, USA
• Website: gv.com

15. Thrive Capital

They funded multiple payment APIs for vertical SaaS and understand software-fintech convergence.

• Recent Deals: Multiple vertical SaaS payment investments (2025-2026), Stripe (previous rounds)
• LinkedIn: Thrive Capital
• Sector Focus: Vertical SaaS payments, payment APIs, embedded payments, merchant tools
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: thrivecap.com

16. QED Investors

They come from Capital One and led TabaPay's payment switching infrastructure round.

• Recent Deals: TabaPay ($100M growth round, Nov 2025), Form3 (payment infrastructure, 2025)
• LinkedIn: QED Investors
• Sector Focus: Payment switching, payment infrastructure, merchant acquiring, processing platforms
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Location: Alexandria, USA
• Website: qedinvestors.com

17. Canaan Partners

They focus on payment security infrastructure and fraud prevention at scale.

• Recent Deals: Fraud prevention platforms (multiple investments, 2025), Payment security tools (2025)
• LinkedIn: Canaan Partners
• Sector Focus: Payment security, fraud prevention, risk infrastructure, compliance tools
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: Menlo Park, USA
• Website: canaan.com

18. SignalFire

They backed real-time payment rails and understand faster payment infrastructure requirements.

• Recent Deals: Real-time payment platforms (multiple seed rounds, 2026), FedNow integration tools (2025)
• LinkedIn: SignalFire
• Sector Focus: Real-time payments, instant payment rails, payment infrastructure, faster payments
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Website: signalfire.com

19. Nyca Partners

They understand regulated payment infrastructure and money transmission licensing complexity.

• Recent Deals: Money transmission platforms ($45M combined investments, 2025), Regulated payment infrastructure
• LinkedIn: Nyca Partners
• Sector Focus: Regulated payments, money transmission, payment licensing, compliance infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: nycapartners.com

20. Commerce Ventures

They backed Tilled's payment facilitator infrastructure and focus on B2B payment platforms.

• Recent Deals: Tilled ($11M Series A, Apr 2025), Slope (B2B payment infrastructure, 2025)
• LinkedIn: Commerce Ventures
• Sector Focus: Payment facilitators, B2B payments, merchant acquiring, infrastructure APIs
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Website: commerceventures.com

How Ellty helps payment infrastructure startups

These 20 investors closed payment infrastructure deals from 2025 to 2026. Before you reach out, set up proper tracking.

Upload your deck to Ellty and create a unique link for each investor. You'll see exactly which slides they view and how long they spend on your processing margins and interchange structures. Most founders are surprised when investors skip the market opportunity slides but spend 10+ minutes reviewing processor agreements and chargeback rates. That tells you what questions are coming.

When investors ask for your processor contracts, interchange schedules, or network agreements, share an Ellty data room instead of scattered email attachments. Your processor agreement, chargeback data, and network fee structures in one place with view analytics. You'll know exactly when they've reviewed your payment economics.

Common questions

How do I know if a payments infrastructure investor is still active?

Check their portfolio page for 2025-2026 deals in payment processing or rails. If their last payment investment was pre-pandemic, they might have shifted focus to other fintech verticals.

Should I cold email payments investors or get introductions?

Get warm intros through portfolio companies. Payment infrastructure investors want to see proof you understand interchange economics and processor relationships before taking meetings.

What's the difference between seed and Series B payments infrastructure investors?

Seed investors will fund you with processor LOIs and early TPV. Series B investors want to see $500M+ annual TPV, sub-50bps processing costs, and direct acquiring relationships. The gap is significant.

How many payments infrastructure investors should I reach out to?

Start with 12-15 who've done recent deals in your specific area (cross-border vs. orchestration vs. acquiring). Payment infrastructure is specialized enough that generic fintech investors won't understand your margins.

When should I set up a data room for payment infrastructure due diligence?

Before your first meeting. They'll ask for processor agreements, interchange schedules, and chargeback data immediately. Having it ready in Ellty cuts diligence time in half.

Do payment investors care about deck analytics?

Yes. If they're spending time on your processor economics slides and skipping your TAM slides, they actually understand payment infrastructure. If they spend equal time on everything, they're probably generalist fintech investors who won't get your business model.