UK-based fintech company Ryft has raised EUR 23 million in a Series B round led by Gresham House Ventures.
Existing investors Pembroke VCT and Ingenii Capital also took part. The round follows a 12-month period in which Ryft tripled its processing volume. More than 6,500 businesses now use its payment system, including Epos Now, Chaiwalla, the Disasters Emergency Committee, Daytrip, and Sprive. The company plans to use the capital to expand across Europe and the US, accelerate product development, and move upmarket.
Infrastructure for multi-party payments
Founded in 2021, Ryft builds payment infrastructure for marketplaces, platforms, and multi-location businesses. Through a single integration, clients can manage seller onboarding and complex transaction flows, including recurring billing, automated split payments, and cross-border payouts. The model also allows merchants to generate additional revenue from the transactions processed on their platforms. The company is regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Investors framed the round around a structural shift in commerce. Rohit Mathur, Partner at Gresham House Ventures, said payment infrastructure was originally designed for transactions between two parties, whereas commerce increasingly runs through marketplaces, franchises, and creator businesses, and in time potentially through AI agents. According to the investor, Ryft's top-performing customers are growing their volumes on the platform by more than 100% a year.
Furthermore, Fred Ursell, Head of Investments at Pembroke Investment Managers, noted that splitting payments between multiple parties is technical and heavily regulated work, which incumbents have left underserved for around a decade. Pembroke has previously supported Ryft starting in 2024, when it first met one of the founders, Sandra Hosseini, and this round marks its third investment in the company.
Wider European strategy
As part of its European expansion, Ryft has applied for a full EU licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). If granted, it would allow the company to passport its services across the European Economic Area.
Sadra Hosseini, Ryft’s CEO and co-founder, commented that the funding would enable Ryft to take its UK offering into new European markets and compete internationally, offering businesses an alternative in a payments sector that has long been dominated by a small number of incumbents.
Policy and ecosystem context
The raise comes amid growing attention on the UK's capacity to build domestic technology companies that can scale globally, and as European policymakers push to strengthen the region's sovereign payments infrastructure. Gresham House Ventures argued that, as commerce moves towards instant, multi-party, and agent-initiated payments, ownership of payment rails is becoming a question of national economic sovereignty rather than only merchant cost.
The UK government also welcomed the investment. The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby, said Ryft's growth reflected confidence in Manchester's fintech sector and showed how British companies can start, scale, and compete internationally.
Gresham House manages more than EUR 14.6 billion in assets. Its ventures team provides primary and secondary capital to technology businesses across sectors including fintech, enterprise software, consumer, healthtech, and deeptech, and has completed more than 100 investments.
