Stax

What Stax does

Stax Payments, Inc. (founded 2014 in Orlando, Florida as Fattmerchant and rebranded to Stax in 2024) is a privately held U.S. payment technology company that sells subscription-based payment processing to small and mid-sized businesses and embedded-payments infrastructure to vertical SaaS platforms and independent software vendors. The company's product portfolio is organized as: Stax Pay (SMB-facing all-in-one payment processing), Stax Connect (embedded payments / PayFac-as-a-service for ISVs and SaaS platforms via a single RESTful API and white-label UI), Stax Bill (ASC 606-compliant subscription billing and dunning, acquired as Fuse Bill in 2021), Stax Processing (full-stack end-to-end processor built on the October 2023 APPS acquisition, with direct connections to Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and Amex OptBlue), CardX (automated compliant credit-card surcharging, acquired November 2021), and BlockChyp (payments gateway and APIs, acquired October 2024), plus APPSOS as a POS front-end.

The technical architecture is full-stack and proprietary: Stax controls the payment journey from origination through API and gateway (Stax.js tokenization iframe, BlockChyp) to tokenization, clearing, and settlement, with in-house merchant boarding and risk management, PCI Level 1 certification, and ISO/MSP sponsorship from Fifth Third Bank, Pinnacle/Synovus, and Elavon (U.S. Bancorp). The business model combines a tiered monthly subscription ($99 / $139 / $199+ per month by annual processing volume), 0% markup on direct-cost interchange, per-transaction fees ($0.08 card-present, $0.15 card-not-present), ACH and chargeback protection add-ons, hardware sales (Dejavoo and SwipeSimple terminals), a Lendflow-powered lending referral stream, and embedded-payments revenue share for ISV partners operating under referral, reseller, and Payfac models. GTM is hybrid — direct sales (phone + demo) and self-serve website sign-up for SMBs, plus an ISV/OEM channel and B2B referral partner program. The company reports $23 billion+ in annual payments volume across 39,000+ businesses and SaaS platforms in the U.S. and Canada, a 300+ team, and a $245 million Series D in March 2022 led by its co-founders that took the company past a $1 billion valuation. In February 2026 Greater Sum Ventures operating partner John Cimba was named CEO, and a March 2026 C-suite realignment added a CCO, COO, CTO, and Chief AI Officer.

Name

Stax

Legal name

Stax Payments, Inc.

Website

https://staxpayments.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Stax is a U.S. payment technology company (founded 2014, Orlando) that provides subscription-based payment processing for SMBs and embedded payments-as-a-service for SaaS platforms, processing $23B+ annually for 39,000+ businesses and software partners across the U.S. and Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Processing Software

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232), Credit Card Issuing (522210), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Credit Card Issuing (52221)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Payment Gateways & Orchestration (BPAMAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Card Issuing & Program Management Platforms (BPAMAFAH), Recurring Billing & Subscription Payments Enablement (FSAMACAF), Smart Routing, Cascading & Payment Optimization (FSAMACAJ), Cross-border Payments & FX for E-commerce (CRAFALAF)

Keywords

• Payment processing platform
• Embedded payments API
• Subscription billing software
• Credit card surcharging
• Merchant acquiring services

Headquarters

HQ city

Orlando

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription fees (Stax Pay): Tiered monthly subscription pricing ($99/month up to $150K processing, $139/month up to $250K, $199+/month for $250K+) — the foundational recurring revenue stream, advertised as saving customers up to 40% versus traditional processors.
2. Interchange pass-through and per-transaction fees: 0% markup on direct-cost interchange plus a flat $0.08 per card-present transaction and $0.15 per card-not-present transaction.
3. Surcharge revenue (CardX): Automated compliant surcharging starting at $99/month subscription; merchant pays 0% on credit-card surcharged sales while cardholder pays 3%, and 1.25% + $0.25 per debit transaction.
4. Hardware sales (terminals and readers): One-time sale of payment equipment: Dejavoo QD2 ($495), Dejavoo QD4 ($310), SwipeSimple B350 Reader ($125); plus $19/month terminal protection plan.
5. Lending referral / financial services revenue: Powered by Lendflow integration offering term loans up to $10M, receivables advances, and lines of credit; provides Stax a referral/affiliate share of funded loans while giving merchants access to working capital.
6. Embedded payments / SaaS partner revenue share: Stax Connect monetizes payments processed through ISV/SaaS partner platforms via revenue-share and interchange-based pricing on transactions routed through Stax's PayFac, referral, and reseller programs.
7. Subscription billing (Stax Bill) revenue: Recurring revenue from Stax Bill, a subscription billing and invoicing platform with dunning management and ASC 606 compliance — sold as part of the Stax product suite.
8. ACH processing and chargeback protection fees: ACH processing at 1% per transaction (capped at $10); chargeback protection add-on at $25 per chargeback.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion6 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Stax provides a subscription-based, end-to-end payment processing technology platform serving small and mid-sized businesses, software platforms, and ISVs across the U.S. and Canada. Its integrated suite includes Stax Pay (multi-channel payment acceptance), Stax Connect (embedded payments API with white-label UI), Stax Bill (subscription billing), Stax Processing (proprietary end-to-end processor), and CardX (compliant surcharging). The platform processes $23 billion+ in payments annually for 39,000+ businesses and software platforms via direct card-network connections, transparent interchange-plus pricing, and PayFac-as-a-service.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Stax Pay: All-in-one payment processing platform for small and mid-sized businesses, offering in-person, online, and mobile payment acceptance with subscription-based pricing.
• Stax Connect
• Stax Bill
• Stax Processing
• CardX by Stax
• Stax Connect Plus

Products and services

• Stax Pay All-in-one payment processing platform for small and mid-sized businesses, offering in-person, online, and mobile payment acceptance with transparent subscription-based pricing, 0% markup on interchange, invoicing, hosted pages, payment links, recurring billing, surcharging compliance, mobile app, and next-business-day funding.
• Stax Connect Embedded payments and PayFac-as-a-service platform for SaaS companies and ISVs, offering single RESTful API integration with white-label UI, customizable onboarding and enrollment flows, and flexible referral, reseller, and Payfac program options.
• Stax Bill Subscription billing and invoicing platform (formerly Fuse Bill) offering automated recurring billing, ASC 606-compliant revenue recognition, dunning management, credit-card retry schedules, and a self-service customer portal.
• Stax Processing Full-stack end-to-end payment processing platform (formerly APPS) with direct connections to Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express OptBlue; in-house merchant boarding, risk management, AI-enabled fraud orchestration, clearing, and settlement.
• CardX by Stax Compliant credit card surcharging program that enables merchants to pass processing fees onto cardholders, with automated detection of debit vs credit, 3% fee cap, card-brand registration, and itemized receipts to meet state and federal rules.
• Stax Connect Plus Full-service partnership program within Stax Connect in which Stax oversees the entire merchant customer journey — including sales, onboarding, deployment, and support — for ISV/SaaS partners seeking a white-glove embedded payments experience.
• Stax Lending Working capital offering for Stax merchants powered by the Lendflow integration, providing term loans up to $10M, receivables advances, and revolving credit with credit decisions in as little as 15 minutes and funding in 24 hours.
• Stax Payment Hardware Stax-branded payment terminals and readers — including the Dejavoo QD2 Mobile Wireless Terminal ($495), Dejavoo QD4 Countertop Terminal ($310), Dejavoo D1 Cloud Register, and SwipeSimple B350 Reader ($125) — sold through Stax's online storefront with an optional $19/month Terminal Protection Plan.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 40% savings on payment processing versus traditional processors
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration23 records

AI capability3 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, major and minor.

• BlockChypflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2024Stax acquired BlockChyp in October 2024 to expand its end-to-end processing capabilities. The deal brought BlockChyp's advanced payments gateway and APIs into the Stax stack and supports Stax's position in embedded payments solutions.
• Atlantic-Pacific Processing Systems (APPS)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 October 2023Stax Payments acquired Atlantic-Pacific Processing Systems in October 2023 and rebranded it as Stax Processing, expanding Stax into multi-channel payment processing with enhanced data reporting and customization.
• CardXflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 November 2021Stax acquired CardX in November 2021 to add automated compliant surcharging to its platform, allowing merchants to accept credit cards at zero cost via pass-through surcharging.
• Fuse Bill (Stax Bill)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Stax acquired Fuse Bill in 2021 and rebranded it as Stax Bill, adding ASC 606-compliant subscription billing, dunning management, and recurring revenue recognition to the Stax product suite.
• Payment DepotmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Stax acquired Payment Depot in 2021 as part of its evolution into a full-stack payments provider.
• SeramajorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerSera, a Field Service Management software company for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and home service businesses, embedded Stax Connect payments and launched Sera Payments; case study quotes Sera's Head of Payments praising Stax's ownership-driven support model.
• FishbowlmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFishbowl, a restaurant management software platform, is a flagship Stax Connect Plus partner. A 6-month program produced a 36% increase in onboarded MIDs, 25% increase in active processing MIDs, 112% lift in total processing volume, and 93% lift in revenue from onboarded merchants.
• LendflowmajorTechnology or IntegrationStax integrates with Lendflow to power its Lending capability, offering Stax merchants access to term loans up to $10M, receivables advances, and revolving credit — a one-stop apply/select/fund flow with credit decisions in as little as 15 minutes and funding in 24 hours.
• ClientTetherminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerClientTether, a franchise CRM, adopted Stax Connect Plus for embedded payments; case study highlights transformed internal lift and customer experiences.
• ChiroSpringminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerChiroSpring, a chiropractic practice management platform, embedded Stax Connect and drove rapid merchant adoption among chiropractic practices.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Helcim: Helcim is a subscription/interchange-plus payment processor targeting SMBs with transparent pricing and a SaaS-style platform — the closest direct competitor to Stax Pay on subscription-based transparent pricing for U.S./Canadian SMBs.
• Stripe: Stripe is a full-stack global payments platform with developer-first APIs, embedded payments for SaaS/ISVs (Stripe Connect), and subscription billing (Stripe Billing) — directly comparable to Stax Connect, Stax Bill, and Stax Processing across API-first, embedded, and SMB use cases.
• Square (Block): Square, part of Block, offers all-in-one payments, POS hardware, software (Square Appointments, Restaurants, Retail), and developer APIs — competing head-on with Stax Pay and APPSOS for SMBs and small multi-location merchants.
• Toast: Toast is a vertical SaaS + payments platform for restaurants that combines POS, embedded payments, and lending — directly comparable to Stax's vertical-SaaS strategy as evidenced by Fishbowl, a restaurant-software Stax Connect Plus partner.
• Finix: Finix provides embedded payments infrastructure (PayFac-as-a-service, split payouts, white-label) for software platforms via APIs — a direct competitor in the Stax Connect ISV/SaaS embedded-payments category.
• Maxio: Maxio (formed from the merger of SaaSOptics and Chargify) is a subscription billing and revenue-recognition platform — directly comparable to Stax Bill (formerly Fuse Bill) for SaaS and subscription-based businesses needing ASC 606 billing and dunning.

Broad incumbents

• PayPal: PayPal operates Braintree (developer payments), PayPal Commerce, and Zettle (POS) and is explicitly cited by Stax as a competitor — a broad incumbent with overlapping capabilities across SMB acceptance, online checkout, and embedded/developer payments.
• Adyen: Adyen is a global end-to-end payment processor with direct card-network connections, unified online/in-person commerce, and a platform business serving enterprise and platform customers — comparable to Stax Processing's full-stack ambitions but at global scale.
• Checkout.com: Checkout.com is a global end-to-end payment processor with direct card-network connections, optimized for digital and platform businesses — overlapping with Stax Processing's full-stack positioning for SaaS and enterprise merchants.
• Fiserv: Fiserv is a broad financial-technology incumbent offering merchant acquiring, Clover POS, and embedded commerce — a relevant incumbent comparable to the multi-channel processing, ISO/MSP, and SMB merchant services capabilities Stax is scaling.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/staxpayments
• YouTubeyoutube.com/StaxPayments
• Facebookfacebook.com/staxpayments
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/staxpayments
• Instagraminstagram.com/staxpayments

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A5 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stax