On Thursday, Rapyd announced the launch of its new arm Rapyd Ventures. The new venture arm will focus on investing in startups that are transforming financial services. Joel Yarbrough, MD of Rapyd Ventures and Rapyd's VP of Asia Pacific, will be at the helm of affairs in the new arm of Rapyd.
"The innovations that we are seeing in the payments industry are not evenly distributed. We believe we have a mission and responsibility to support companies building both the infrastructure for next-generation financial services, as well as innovators building on top of these new capabilities around the world, and to accelerate their development," said Arik Shtilman, CEO and co-founder of Rapyd.
Speaking on the appointment of Joel Yarbrough, Arik Shtilman said, "Joel's intimate understanding of the global Tech industry and his vast insight and experience in payment technology makes him the ideal person to lead our new venture arm. He knows where the industry is headed and how to build the technology necessary to get there. Just as he has pushed Rapyd forward, we are confident he can do the same for others in this space and the entire digital commerce ecosystem."
Rapyd Ventures will be looking to work with early and growth-stage businesses – a startup with unique market and customer insight and are scaling up existing market traction- after their Seed round and through Series B funding.
In addition to capital, the new arm will provide these startups with a gateway to its extensive Fintech-as-a-Service capabilities and network of partners. Rapyd Venture will also provide startup with strategic advice and opportunities to move with pace, scale up more quickly, and speed up their growth.
The venture arm, according to PR Newswire, will look at two types of projects:
- Capability providers delivering core infrastructure in areas where the market is going, including identity and risk management, faster and more seamless money movement and embedded financial services;
- End-user platforms that are directly providing innovative financial services to consumers and businesses around the world.
"We are engaging with entrepreneurs around the world to create the enabling infrastructure for next-generation financial services and bring to the market new fintech products that create opportunities for individuals, small, and large businesses to transact with lower friction, more quickly, safely, and in new ways," said Joel Yarbrough, MD of Rapyd Ventures and VP of Asia Pacific.
"We believe that 'FinTech' will be built into all types of services, and we want to help bring to life a network of innovators and a rich set of new payment, identity, open banking, and embedded finance capabilities to make it happen," he added.
