By Abdulrahman Aliagan, Abuja
Rapyd a global Fintech-as-a-Service provider has appointed Sarel Tal as Vice President – EMEA to drive the expansion of its integrated payments, commerce and financial services platform across the region. The appointment follows Rapyd’s recent $100M Series C funding announcement led by Oak HC/FT and Tiger Global.
The hint was dropped in a statement signed and available to Time Nigeria by Knowledge Bylanes, a Pakistanian based Media organisation . The statement said, “significant investment in infrastructure and personnel are planned for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region in 2020”
Adding that, “Tal will focus on driving the expansion of the Rapyd Global Payments Network and bringing businesses looking to expand local and cross-border payments onto its Fintech-as-a-Service platform. The Rapyd technology stack removes the back-end complexities of cross-border commerce while providing local payment expertise so enterprise, B2C, and B2B customers can focus their resources on business growth and expansion instead of building and managing infrastructure. A serial entrepreneur Tal brings more than two decades of experience building and growing payments and technology businesses. Prior to joining Rapyd, he was the Founder and CEO of AlgoCharge, a payment processing Fintech, and CEO of Allcharge, a global Internet payment service provider.
“With this newly added leadership and funding, Rapyd will further develop its global payments network to help businesses further penetrate local markets and seize cross-border growth opportunities by providing more than four billion consumers with access to over 900 local payment methods. The Fintech-as-a-Service platform also simplifies the process for regulatory, compliance and risk management services that businesses require to drive global growth. The company also plans to hire resources across several critical areas including engineering, client services, compliance, and risk management.
“We continue to see tremendous demand for more comprehensive solutions to both non-card and card-based solutions that support local and cross-border use cases. The EMEA market is complex and has unique challenges that Fintechs like Rapyd can solve to help power growth. I am thrilled to welcome Sarel to the company,” said Arik Shtilman, CEO of Rapyd. “His wealth of business experience in scaling payments companies will be invaluable as we navigate the next steps in our expansion. He brings a valuable combination of knowledge and strategic vision needed to further achieve Rapyd’s regional and global growth goals.”
Mr. Tal stated “I have been actively working in the Fintech ecosystem for the last two decades, leading the growth of several global payment companies. While the Fintech industry is still very focused on a single-service silo approach, Rapyd is undertaking the challenge to introduce a revolutionary Fintech-as-a-Service approach, offering our customers all the needed Fintech services accessible from one API with single settlement and reconciliation. The EMEA region represents an even greater challenge as we need to attend to the diversified needs across the region. In order for us to meet these needs, we are providing Open Banking and PSD2 Services like Payment Initiation Services (PIS) and Account Information Services (AIS) in the EU while at the same enabling financial inclusion services across the developing economies of the region including mobile wallets and support of local payment methods and local currencies.”
Mr. Tal further commented “We are also committed to continuing to support our Gig-Economy and global marketplace partners with their global expansion efforts by providing our multicurrency and FX services that fully integrate into our e-wallet solution. Rapyd is poised to scale in the EMEA region, supporting both inter and intra-region business opportunities. I am looking forward to expanding our reach into additional industries while Rapyd continues to lead innovation in the global Fintech ecosystem.”
Rapyd helps businesses create great local commerce experiences anywhere. The world’s most innovative ecommerce, technology firms, and marketplaces utilize our Fintech-as-a-Service platforms: Collect, Disburse, Wallet and Issuing to seamlessly integrate fintech and payment capabilities into their applications. By accessing the Rapyd Global Payments Network, businesses can access over 900 local payment types including bank transfers, ewallets and cash in more than 100 countries. Now ecommerce, technology firms, and marketplaces can focus on growing new markets and reaching billions of consumers rather than building infrastructure. Investors include Oak HC/FT, Tiger Global, General Catalyst, Stripe, Target Global, Coatue, Entrée Capital, IGNIA, and TAL Capital.
