Ryft raises £20m Series B to fund EU licence push and US expansion

Manchester-based payments infrastructure company Ryft has closed a £20 million Series B funding round, bringing total capital raised to approximately £27 million, according to a single-source figure from thesaasnews.com. The round was led by Gresham House Ventures, with existing investors Pembroke VCT and Ingenii Capital participating alongside new backer NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, managed by PXN Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

The Round

Founded in 2021 by Sadra Hosseini, Alex Mackenzie and Richard Kirby, Ryft provides payments infrastructure for platforms, marketplaces and multi-location businesses. Its core product set covers split payments, recurring billing and cross-border payouts — capabilities that have gained traction across a customer base that now exceeds 6,500 businesses, confirmed by businesscloud.co.uk and finopotamus.com.

The company also reported that it tripled processing volume over the twelve months preceding the raise, according to the same sources. Named customers include Epos Now, Chaiwalla, Disasters Emergency Committee, Daytrip and Sprive.

Ryft's customer base has grown to more than 6,500 businesses as the company reported tripling its payment processing volumes in the twelve months prior to the raise — a trajectory that underpins the case for scaling into European markets.

Regulatory Groundwork

A central element of the company's expansion strategy is regulatory. Ryft has applied for a full EU licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), a step confirmed by thesaasnews.com and businesscloud.co.uk. In regulatory terms, authorisation from the MFSA would enable EEA passporting, allowing Ryft to offer services across European Economic Area jurisdictions from a single regulatory base.

Companies pursuing pan-European payments authorisation through this route are, in analytical terms, making a forward bet: the compliance and commercial groundwork they lay now will need to hold against a regulatory landscape that continues to evolve across EEA member states.

Fund Deployment

The verified sources do not provide a detailed breakdown of how the proceeds will be allocated. Ryft's stated direction is European and US expansion; beyond that characterisation, confirmed in multiple primary sources including ryftpay.com and businesscloud.co.uk, specific allocations to product development or other line items have not been independently confirmed and are not reported here.

Northern Powerhouse Context

The participation of NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance signals continued institutional appetite for financing Northern England's fintech sector. Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby commented publicly on the raise, praising Manchester's fintech sector, according to businesscloud.co.uk and finopotamus.com — an indication that the round has drawn government-level attention as well as private capital.

Ryft is part of a broader cohort of Northern fintechs building substantive businesses beyond London. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund's involvement, channelled here through PXN Ventures, reflects an ongoing policy emphasis on distributing high-growth financial-technology investment across UK regions.

Why It Matters

At £20 million, the Series B is a substantial capital event for a company that launched in 2021 and operates in a competitive, infrastructure-layer segment of the payments market. The combination of organic growth metrics — tripled processing volumes, 6,500-plus business customers — and the move to seek MFSA authorisation suggests Ryft is transitioning from UK-focused challenger to a business with cross-border regulatory standing.

Whether that transition delivers the projected European market access will depend in part on the pace and outcome of the MFSA licensing process, which remains an application at this stage and not a confirmed authorisation. The parallel US ambition adds a second geographic variable that the current funding round will need to support.

For the Manchester fintech ecosystem, the raise adds further evidence that the city can attract institutional venture capital for infrastructure-layer financial technology — a segment that typically demands longer development timelines and greater regulatory investment than consumer-facing applications.