What Rainforest actually is
Rainforest Pay, Inc. is a Delaware corporation based in Atlanta, founded in 2022 by Joshua Silver. It gives software platforms the machinery to embed payments: real-time sub-merchant onboarding and underwriting, card, ACH, PayPal, Venmo and Apple Pay acceptance, terminal payments, next-day funding, split payouts, chargeback management and embedded reporting, delivered as a REST API with a white-labeled low-code component library.
It is the youngest of the serious PayFac-as-a-service providers, and competes on three things rather than breadth.
The first is migration. Rainforest markets most directly at platforms that already have payments running with an incumbent and want to move the portfolio without re-onboarding every merchant. It cites a customer whose 1,600-plus merchants were migrated in weeks. That is a company claim rather than an independently verified figure, but it identifies the buyer Rainforest is built for: not the platform adding payments for the first time, but the one that regrets its current provider.
The second is platform economics. The pitch is that a platform keeps a larger share of the payment margin than under a legacy PayFac arrangement, illustrated with a customer whose margin it says more than doubled after switching.
The third is data portability, and it is the most genuinely differentiated of the three.
What Rainforest is not: available to individual merchants, available outside the United States other than an announced Canadian expansion, or large. The only sourced headcount figure is around 24 as of October 2023, and it has raised twice since without publishing a current number.
How Rainforest works and who carries the risk
Platforms run as sub-merchant portfolios under Rainforest's registration. Rainforest holds the acquiring relationship, does the underwriting, monitors for fraud and carries the compliance burden. The platform decides what its own merchants pay and keeps the difference between that and its buy rate from Rainforest.
Sponsorship sits with two banks: First Citizens Bank & Trust Company and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Two named sponsors rather than one is a meaningful structural detail, because a single sponsor bank changing its risk appetite for a vertical can interrupt an entire portfolio. Note alongside it that the venture debt in Rainforest's 2023 seed round came from Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens — the same group that sponsors part of its acquiring.
The terms deserve close reading, and Rainforest publishes them, which is more than most competitors do.
The platform agreement is effective from the first processing date and continues until terminated. Term length and notice provisions are not published.
How Rainforest prices
Rainforest publishes no rate card and no pricing page. Pricing is negotiated per platform on a consumption basis: a percentage of each transaction as the buy rate, with the platform setting merchant-facing pricing on top and keeping the margin.
The structural point to understand is that Rainforest's model is a percentage of volume. That is the conventional shape for this category, and a different bet from a provider that charges software and per-transaction fees instead: under a percentage model the provider's revenue grows automatically with the platform's success, and under a software-fee model it does not. Rainforest's argument is not that it charges differently in kind, but that the share it takes leaves more with the platform.
Fees beyond the headline include per-transaction processing, chargeback and dispute fees, and onboarding and underwriting fees. No monthly minimum is published and no early-termination provision is published.
Rainforest is more candid than most about the economics in principle and no more transparent than anyone in practice. Its published margin-improvement figures are marketing claims from its own funding announcements, and they describe one customer's outcome rather than a rate available to you.
Where Rainforest is genuinely strong
Contractual data portability. This is the real differentiator and it deserves to be understood properly. In embedded payments, the thing that locks a platform in is not the integration — it is the tokenization vault. Card credentials are stored as tokens that only the provider can resolve, so leaving usually means asking every merchant's customers to re-enter their card details, which platforms will not do. Rainforest markets a contractual commitment to transfer merchant and transaction data on request, with the platform assuming liability for third-party handling of the exported data. A provider that puts portability in the contract has given up part of its own leverage, and very few do.
Portfolio migration as a product. Moving an existing merchant book between providers is where embedded payments deals die. Rainforest sells the migration itself as a hands-on service rather than treating it as the customer's problem — a sensible position for a challenger, and a meaningful one for a platform that has already been through a bad implementation.
Healthcare and patient billing. HSA and FSA card acceptance is a specific technical problem — these cards decline against non-qualifying merchant categories and item types — and it is a problem most general-purpose providers handle badly. Rainforest supports it directly and cites a customer whose authorization rate on those cards rose dramatically. Founder Joshua Silver previously built the healthcare payments company Patientco, so the domain knowledge is not accidental.
Integration surface. A REST API with a white-labeled low-code component library, real-time underwriting decisions, and card, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay and terminal payments in one integration. Named customers include PayGround, RoadSync, Curae, Rose Rocket, Keap and QuoteMachine.
Where Rainforest falls short
Counterparty risk is the headline issue. Rainforest was founded in 2022, had raised $57.5m in total as of September 2025, and is a Series B company. A platform putting its merchants' settlement and its own payments revenue through a four-year-old startup takes a risk that does not exist with an acquirer-owned competitor such as Payrix. That is not a criticism of the product; it is a statement about what happens if funding markets turn.
Almost everything about its scale is a company claim. The $500m of client commitments, the "billions in annual payment volume", the ten-fold revenue growth and the nearly 100 platforms on the service all come from Rainforest's own funding announcements, as do the migration, margin, authorization-rate and chargeback-reduction figures. A platform doing diligence should ask for evidence under NDA rather than treat any of it as established.
One country. The United States, with Canada announced in September 2025. There is no multi-currency cross-border acceptance, so a platform whose merchants operate in Europe, Latin America or Asia cannot use Rainforest for them.
Next-day funding, not instant. Rainforest advertises next-day funding rather than instant settlement or a real-time payments rail. Platforms whose merchants expect same-day access to funds — restaurants, field services, gig marketplaces — should confirm the timeline before selling it.
No high-risk categories, and orchestration is a roadmap item. Rainforest publishes a prohibited-business list and can terminate immediately for prohibited-industry activity. It named fintech orchestration as a post-Series B roadmap item but remains a payment facilitator, not a vendor-neutral layer routing across competing acquirers. Tap-to-phone was likewise announced as funded rather than shipped, and no crypto, stablecoin or agentic payments capability is documented.
Ownership, funding and track record
Rainforest is private and investor-backed, at Series B stage as of September 2025. Joshua Silver founded it in Atlanta in 2022, having previously founded Patientco and consulted with more than fifty software platforms on payments strategy — unusually specific preparation for a company aimed at exactly those platforms.
The funding sequence has been fast. In October 2023 Rainforest raised an $8.5m seed round led by Accel, alongside $3.25m of venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank, for $11.75m in total; Infinity Ventures, BoxGroup, The Fintech Fund, Tech Square Ventures and Ardent Venture Partners participated. It reported client commitments of more than $500m of processing volume and around 24 employees. A $20m round followed in June 2024.
On 8 September 2025 it raised a $29m Series B led by Matrix Partners and Infinity Ventures, with Accel and Tech Square Ventures participating, taking total funding to $57.5m. Alongside that round it reported ten-fold year-over-year revenue growth and nearly 100 software platforms on the service, and announced expansion into Canada plus tap-to-phone acceptance, alternative payment methods and fintech orchestration.
No regulatory actions, enforcement matters or litigation were found against Rainforest. For a company founded in 2022 that is expected, and it is a null search result rather than a certified absence — a clean record over four years carries less weight than one over twenty.
How to evaluate Rainforest
The decision is usually Rainforest against an acquirer-owned provider or a longer-established independent: agility and economics against institutional weight.
- Get the data-portability commitment into your contract in specific terms. This is Rainforest's headline differentiator, so hold it to the detail: what data, in what format, on what notice, at what cost, and what happens to tokenized card credentials. A portability clause that excludes the token vault is not portability.
- Read the reserve and termination language and model the worst case. Rainforest can hold proceeds and set reserves at its own reasonable judgment and can suspend immediately for several reasons including sponsor bank requirements. Ask what has actually triggered a reserve in practice, and how a platform is notified.
- Ask for evidence behind the numbers under NDA — processing volume, live platform count, merchant retention, and the migration case studies. Every published figure is the company's own.
- Ask about the sponsor bank split: which portfolios sit with which bank, and what happens to yours if one withdraws.
- Confirm the funding timeline in writing against what your merchants expect, and confirm tap-to-phone and Canadian availability are live rather than announced.
- Run your real merchant mix past the underwriting criteria and the prohibited-business list before you build a payments roadmap around it.
- Do the counterparty work you would do on any Series B vendor: runway, investor commitment, key-person dependency, and what happens to your merchants if Rainforest is acquired.
Capability assessment
Every company profiled on this site is assessed against the same eighteen dimensions, so the profiles can be read against one another. Each rating carries one sentence of evidence. There is no score out of ten, because a score is not defensible and a sentence is.
Core strength means a primary, differentiating capability. Supported means genuinely offered and documented, but not a differentiator. Limited means partial, geographically restricted, gated behind an enterprise tier, or delivered through a third party. Not offered means what it says. Unclear means the company markets the capability but does not document it well enough to judge — which is itself a finding.
Who Rainforest suits
- Vertical SaaS platforms adding payments for the first time that do not want to register as a payment facilitator or carry sub-merchant underwriting risk.
- Platforms migrating an existing merchant portfolio off an incumbent PayFac or ISV processor — this is the case Rainforest markets most directly, citing 1,600+ merchants migrated in weeks for one customer.
- Healthcare and patient-billing software whose merchants need HSA and FSA card acceptance, where Rainforest cites lifting authorisation rates from under 30% to 94%.
- Platforms that want a contractual data-portability commitment so they are not locked in by their merchant and transaction data sitting inside the provider.
Who Rainforest is a poor fit for
- Individual merchants — Rainforest sells to software platforms, not directly to businesses.
- Platforms operating outside the United States; Canada was only announced in September 2025 and no other market is served.
- Buyers who need published pricing before engaging — Rainforest publishes no rate card, and the buy rate is quoted per platform.
- Platforms that need a long operating record or a large-balance-sheet counterparty: Rainforest was founded in 2022, had raised $57.5m in total as of September 2025, and is a Series B company, so counterparty and continuity risk is higher than with an acquirer-owned competitor such as Payrix.
- Platforms with merchants that need instant settlement — Rainforest advertises next-day funding.
- Platforms that need certainty on reserves and holds: Rainforest's processing terms let it hold transaction proceeds and establish reserves at its own reasonable judgment where it identifies a risk of loss, and let it suspend or terminate service immediately for a broad set of reasons including sponsor bank or card network requirements, with the merchant remaining liable for chargebacks after termination.
Competitors and alternatives
| Company | Why a business would choose it instead |
|---|---|
| Finix | Similar independent PayFac-as-a-service positioning with a longer operating history, acquirer-processor status and a subscription rather than percentage-of-volume pricing model. |
| Payrix (Worldpay for Platforms) | Acquirer-owned alternative with the backing of Worldpay's balance sheet, sponsorship and global acquiring licences. |
| Stripe Connect | Global coverage, the largest platform ecosystem and published pricing, at the cost of platform payment economics. |
| Adyen for Platforms | Own-licence global acquiring for platforms whose merchants operate outside North America. |
| Stax Connect | Alternative embedded payments provider aimed at the same US vertical SaaS mid-market. |
| Infinicept | For platforms that want to own the payment facilitator registration themselves and pick their own processor. |
Rainforest — frequently asked questions
What is Rainforest in payments?
Rainforest Pay, Inc. is a US embedded payments provider founded in Atlanta in 2022 that acts as the registered payment facilitator for software platforms, so those platforms can offer payments to their own customers without holding a registration themselves. It handles sub-merchant onboarding, underwriting, card and ACH processing, payouts and chargebacks. Its sponsor banks are First Citizens Bank & Trust Company and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Who founded Rainforest?
Joshua Silver founded Rainforest in Atlanta in 2022. He had previously founded Patientco, a healthcare payments company, and had consulted with more than fifty software platforms on payments strategy before starting Rainforest. That background shows in the product, particularly its support for HSA and FSA card acceptance in patient-billing software.
Which banks sponsor Rainforest?
First Citizens Bank & Trust Company and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Having two named sponsor banks rather than one reduces the risk that a single bank's change of appetite interrupts an entire merchant portfolio, which is a real structural advantage in this category. Rainforest also took venture debt in 2023 from Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens.
Does Rainforest let a platform take its data elsewhere?
Rainforest markets contractual data portability, and its terms provide for transferring merchant and transaction data on request, with the platform assuming liability for third-party handling of the exported data. This is positioned against incumbents whose tokenization vaults and merchant records are hard to extract. A platform relying on it should confirm in its contract exactly what is covered, including whether tokenized card credentials transfer.
How does Rainforest compare to Stripe for a software platform?
Rainforest serves the United States, with Canada announced in September 2025, and competes on platform economics, hands-on portfolio migration and contractual data portability. Stripe Connect is global, far larger, and publishes its platform pricing. Rainforest publishes no rate card and quotes a buy rate per platform, so the two cannot be compared on price without a sales process on the Rainforest side.
How quickly does Rainforest fund merchants?
Rainforest advertises next-day funding rather than instant settlement or a real-time payments rail. Platforms whose merchants expect same-day access to card proceeds — common in restaurants, field services and gig marketplaces — should confirm the exact timeline and cut-off times in writing before promising anything to their own customers.
Is Rainforest big enough to rely on?
That is a judgment call a platform has to make deliberately. Rainforest was founded in 2022, had raised $57.5m in total as of its September 2025 Series B, and reports nearly 100 software platforms on the service — a company figure, not an audited one. It has two established sponsor banks behind it, but a platform routing its merchants' settlement through a Series B company should do runway, investor-commitment and change-of-control diligence before signing.
Sources
This profile was built from the following primary and secondary sources. Where sources disagreed, the disagreement is stated in the text rather than resolved silently.
- https://www.rainforestpay.com
- https://www.rainforestpay.com/sponsor-banks
- https://www.rainforestpay.com/terms-of-service
- https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/rainforest-accelerates-expansion-with-29m-series-b
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250908143729/en/Rainforest-Raises-$29M-Series-B-to-Scale-Seamless-Emb
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240626839878/en/Rainforest-Raises-$20M-to-Transform-Embedded-Payments
- https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/04/rainforest-raises-8-5m-to-help-software-companies-embed-financial-services-p
- https://finovate.com/payments-as-a-service-platform-rainforest-raises-11-75-million-in-seed-funding/
- Current employee count — the only sourced figure is around 24 from October 2023 and the company has raised twice since; no current headcount is published.
- Payment volume and merchant counts are not independently verified — the '$500m+ in client commitments', 'billions in annual payment volume' and 'nearly 100 software platforms' figures are all company statements in funding announcements.
- The customer performance metrics quoted (21 to 54 basis points, 1,600+ merchants migrated, 94% HSA/FSA authorisation rate, 90% chargeback reduction) are Rainforest's own marketing claims from its Series B release and are not independently verified.
- PCI DSS Level 1 status is asserted on the basis of standard payment facilitator requirements rather than a sighted attestation document.
- No controversies, regulatory actions or litigation were found; given the company was founded in 2022 this is expected, but it is a null search result rather than a confirmed absence.