This release, posted in Cision PR Newswire, announces a seed round funding for AeroPay, a payments platform targeted at small businesses and specialty segments. AeroPay is a 2017 startup based in Chicago.
One would guess that the pandemic has raised the company’s profile a bit since it highlights e-payments, fast settlement, and non-card payments. These would all appeal to smaller businesses with cash flow, cash management, and margin issues.
‘The round was led by Continental Investors, also located in Chicago, a direct private investment firm leveraging more than 70 years of investing expertise in financial services and commerce. Continental’s portfolio includes e-commerce marketplace Drizly, publicly-traded financial technology company Sezzle, online payments provider WePay, acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2017, and mobile payments platform LevelUp, acquired by GrubHub in 2018. Other investors in the round include previous angel investors and new strategic investors from the Chicago tech community and financial services industry….”We built our platform to simplify the payments process for owners and operators in all industries and verticals,” said Daniel Muller, CEO & Founder of AeroPay. “We’re extremely excited about the group of investors we’ve brought on, specifically the team at Continental Investors, as their expertise aligns perfectly with the type of company we’ve set out to create.” ‘
While we have not received a briefing, a quick look at the website reveals QR Code acceptance and bank account balance checking to reduce NSF situations. That would indicate some sort of open banking, API-based process. The settlement timing (same or next day) also suggests Same Day ACH and possibly Zelle are preferred payment rails.
The company also appeals to the legal cannabis industry due to that sector’s apparent reliance upon cash payments. But the main target is small business B2B and retail and e-commerce payments.This would suggest that ‘Request for Pay’ through RTP might be in the future as well.
‘ ‘”We have a guiding conviction that payments remains an underinvested and under-innovated category in C2B and B2B commerce,” said Paul M. Purcell, (Partner) of Continental Investors. “For nearly 15 years, Continental has successfully invested and partnered with entrepreneurs pushing innovation in and around financial services and commerce. We are thrilled to welcome Dan Muller and his team at AeroPay to our portfolio.” ‘
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group