Aeropay
Aeropay is a Chicago-based pay-by-bank platform that processes over $1 billion annually for U.S. gaming, cannabis, e-commerce, and marketplace merchants via its proprietary Aerosync bank aggregator and AI-powered risk decisioning.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Aeropay does
Aeropay is a Chicago-based financial technology company founded in 2017 that operates a pay-by-bank platform for U.S. businesses, processing more than $1 billion in annual payment volume. The platform combines four core products — Aerosync (a proprietary bank aggregator connecting to 12,000+ financial institutions with 2,700+ OAuth integrations), Pay (guaranteed ACH processing with 90%+ approval rates and claimed 50% lower cost vs. cards), Payout (instant 24/7/365 disbursements via RTP and FedNow), and Guard (AI-powered fraud and risk decisioning) — into a single API surface. Intelligent multi-rail routing automatically selects among ACH, RTP, and FedNow per transaction based on speed, cost, and risk.
Aeropay's commercial focus is on regulated and specialized verticals that are underserved by card networks, including online gaming and daily fantasy sports (Caesars, Bally's, PrizePicks, Skillz, Sleeper, Polymarket, Kalshi), cannabis retail (Curaleaf, Verano, GreenThumb), marketplaces, and subscription businesses. The company's go-to-market is hybrid: API-first self-serve onboarding for developers, paired with direct enterprise sales for large merchants. Distribution is reinforced through channel partnerships with Jack Henry, Worldpay, Skipify, and banking partners including Cross River, MVB Bank, and Regent Bank.
The company monetizes via transaction-based fees on a quote-based, negotiable pricing model, with the value proposition anchored on lower processing cost vs. cards, instant settlement, and the elimination of chargebacks and ACH returns through Guaranteed ACH. As of May 2024, Aeropay had raised a $20 million Series B led by Group 11 (with Chicago Ventures and Continental Advisors) and was reporting 10X revenue growth; subsequent 2024-2026 actions include the launch of Aerosync, a CCO hire, and a Chicago headquarters expansion with plans for up to 30 additional employees.
Aeropay firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Aeropay
- Legal name
- Aeropay
- Website
- https://aeropay.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Aeropay is a Chicago-based pay-by-bank platform that processes over $1 billion annually for U.S. gaming, cannabis, e-commerce, and marketplace merchants via its proprietary Aerosync bank aggregator and AI-powered risk decisioning.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Aeropay industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payment Processing Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)
- SIC
- Finance Services (6199)
- akta.pro primary industry
- A2A Checkout & Merchant Acceptance Solutions (FSAMAFAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- A2A Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) (FSAMAFAB), ACH/Bank Transfer & Open Banking Payments (MPAEALAC), Account Verification & Ownership (AVS/AOV, micro-deposits, auth) (FSAGACAB), Billing, Subscription & Entitlement Management (IAP orchestration) (MPAFAJAC)
Keywords
Where Aeropay is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Aeropay business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Payment Processing / Transaction Fees: Aeropay charges merchants a percentage or flat fee per transaction processed through its pay-by-bank network. Pay by bank is positioned as 50% lower cost than card processing. The company also offers guaranteed ACH where it assumes return risk in exchange for processing fees.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Monthly | Transaction-based pricing (quote-based) |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels9 records
Aeropay product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Aeropay provides a unified pay-by-bank platform that enables U.S. businesses to accept and send account-to-account (A2A) payments through ACH, RTP, and FedNow rails. Its proprietary bank aggregator Aerosync delivers OAuth-based account linking across 12,000+ financial institutions, while AI-powered risk decisioning (Guard) and guaranteed ACH protect merchants from returns and chargebacks. The platform processes over $1 billion annually for gaming, cannabis, e-commerce, marketplace, and subscription merchants.
Product overview
Aeropay is a unified pay-by-bank platform providing a complete account-to-account payment infrastructure. The platform consists of five core products: Aerosync (proprietary bank aggregator enabling OAuth-based bank connections at 12,000+ institutions with under 20-second onboarding), Pay (pay-by-bank payment processing with guaranteed ACH, 90%+ approval rates, and 50% lower costs versus cards), Payout (instant 24/7/365 real-time disbursements to customer bank accounts), and Guard (AI-powered risk prevention with machine learning models trained across the Aeropay network). All products share a unified API, developer portal (dev.aero.inc), and merchant dashboard, with intelligent routing across ACH, RTP, and FedNow payment rails. The platform processes over $1 billion annually across gaming, e-commerce, marketplaces, subscriptions, and specialized retail verticals.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Aerosync: Proprietary bank aggregator enabling users to instantly link their financial accounts for payment, featuring OAuth connections and high conversion rates.
- Aeropay Pay
- Aeropay Payout
- Aeropay Guard
Products and services
- Aeropay Platform Unified pay-by-bank infrastructure for U.S. businesses to accept and send account-to-account payments, combining bank connectivity, payment processing, instant payouts, and AI-powered risk decisioning into a single API and merchant portal.
- Aerosync Aeropay's proprietary next-generation bank aggregator enabling users to instantly link their bank account via OAuth at 2,700+ institutions, supporting 12,000+ FI connections, live balance retrieval, and white-labeled branded bank-linking experiences for merchants.
- Pay Pay-by-bank payment processing product enabling merchants to accept ACH bank payments with guaranteed ACH processing, industry-leading 90%+ approval rates, 50% cost savings versus cards, and intelligent routing across ACH, RTP, and FedNow payment rails.
- Payout Instant payout product enabling merchants to send real-time disbursements to customer bank accounts 24/7/365 via RTP and FedNow, with same-day ACH fallback using the same API as pay-in transactions.
- Guard AI-powered risk and fraud prevention product using specialized machine learning models continuously trained across the Aeropay network, with customizable guardrails, real-time anomaly detection, and reputation-based routing to reduce friction for trusted users while blocking fraudulent activity.
Quantifiable outcome
- 50% lower processing cost vs. card payments
- +13 more outcomes
Companies that use Aeropay
Customer profileNamed customers27 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Aeropay technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability4 records
Feature7 records
Aeropay partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Jack Henry & AssociatescoreAeropay integrated with Jack Henry's embedded payments technology and Payments Orchestrator to enhance bank integration capabilities and expand real-time payment infrastructure. The integration enables request-for-payment (RfP) and real-time payment (RTP) capabilities with dynamic transaction routing. Both companies are Finovate alumni.
- SkipifycoreStrategic partnership to streamline pay-by-bank at checkout. Skipify enables Aeropay to reach additional merchant checkout environments through its payment optimization platform.
- Cross RivercoreAeropay and Cross River launched Request for Payment (RfP) to power instant consumer pay-ins on the RTP network. Cross River is a regulated bank partner providing RTP infrastructure for instant payments. Also previously partnered to boost instant payouts for gaming (February 2024).
- MVB BankcoreStrategic partnership with MVB Bank to build compliant bank-to-bank payment solutions. The collaboration enhances Aeropay's infrastructure with MVB's capabilities in handling complex ACH and Real-Time Payments for regulated and high-growth sectors, particularly gaming and daily fantasy sports.
- Coalition for Fantasy SportscoreAeropay became the first vendor member to join the Coalition for Fantasy Sports, signaling its commitment to the regulated fantasy sports gaming industry and establishing standards for compliant pay-by-bank payments in the sector.
- WorldpaycoreAeropay and Worldpay partnered to streamline gaming payments. Worldpay is a leading global payments technology company serving the gaming industry; the partnership enables Aeropay's pay-by-bank solution to reach Worldpay's gaming merchant base.
- Cross River (Payouts)corePartnership to boost instant payouts for gaming via Cross River's RTP infrastructure.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Aeropay competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Plaid: Plaid is a leading open banking/bank connectivity platform powering thousands of fintech apps. Both Plaid and Aeropay enable OAuth-based bank linking and feed A2A payment flows; they are the two most directly comparable US open-banking infrastructure providers, differentiated by Aeropay's owned payment processing stack.
- Dwolla: Dwolla provides an A2A payment API built on ACH rails with bank-linking, risk services, and instant payouts — the closest pure-play US competitor to Aeropay's pay-by-bank platform, targeting similar mid-market and enterprise use cases.
- MX Technologies: MX is an open banking platform offering bank connectivity, data aggregation, and financial insights used by financial institutions and fintechs. Comparable to Aeropay's Aerosync at the connectivity layer, with a stronger FI-side distribution footprint.
- Tilled: Tilled is a pay-by-bank focused payments-as-a-service provider targeting ISVs and software platforms with embedded A2A checkout. It competes directly with Aeropay in the embedded-pay-by-bank category, with an overlapping focus on software-led distribution.
Broad incumbents
- Stripe: Stripe is a global payments incumbent that has expanded into A2A and pay-by-bank offerings (e.g., Stripe Financial Connections). It competes with Aeropay in merchant checkout, but with a much broader product portfolio spanning cards, issuing, and banking-as-a-service.
- PayPal: PayPal operates Venmo and direct A2A-style bank payment flows for hundreds of millions of users. It is an established incumbent in digital payments whose push-payment products (Venmo, PayPal) overlap with Aeropay's pay-by-bank value proposition at the consumer end.
- Block (Square / Cash App): Block operates Square seller payments and Cash App peer-to-peer payments, both with bank-rail integration. While its core is card-based, its A2A and instant deposit capabilities compete with Aeropay for merchant payout and consumer pay-by-bank mindshare.
- Finicity (Mastercard): Finicity is Mastercard's open banking and bank-data aggregation unit, providing connectivity used by lenders and fintechs. Comparable to Aeropay's Aerosync at the aggregator layer, now backed by Mastercard's distribution and balance sheet.
Regional players
- Trustly: Trustly is a leading European A2A pay-by-bank provider owned by Nordic Capital. It offers a closely comparable product to Aeropay but is primarily focused on European merchants under PSD2; relevant as a regional peer demonstrating the pay-by-bank model at scale.
Emerging players
- Orum: Orum is an A2A payment initiation platform focused on instant payouts and money movement infrastructure. It overlaps with Aeropay's Payout product but is more narrowly focused on disbursement use cases rather than full merchant pay-by-bank acceptance.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Aeropay social profiles
Digital presenceAeropay compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Aeropay financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Aeropay leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Aeropay funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors3 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Aeropay M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Aeropay
What does Aeropay do?
Aeropay provides a unified pay-by-bank platform that enables U.S. businesses to accept and send account-to-account (A2A) payments through ACH, RTP, and FedNow rails. Its proprietary bank aggregator Aerosync delivers OAuth-based account linking across 12,000+ financial institutions, while AI-powered risk decisioning (Guard) and guaranteed ACH protect merchants from returns and chargebacks. The platform processes over $1 billion annually for gaming, cannabis, e-commerce, marketplace, and subscription merchants.
Is Aeropay a public or private company?
Aeropay is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Aeropay founded?
Aeropay was founded in 2017. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Aeropay based?
Aeropay is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does Aeropay make money?
One revenue line is on record: payment Processing / Transaction Fees.
Who are Aeropay's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Plaid, Dwolla, MX Technologies and Tilled. Broad incumbents are Stripe, PayPal, Block (Square / Cash App) and Finicity (Mastercard). Trustly is listed as a regional player. Orum is listed as an emerging player.
Does Aeropay have an API?
Yes. Aeropay offers a public developer API and SDK for integration. The developer portal is available at dev.aero.inc with API integration guides, SDK integration guides, error handling documentation, and webhook support for real-time payment events. The API supports customizable checkout flows, branded bank linking experiences via Aerosync, configurable controls, real-time APIs and webhooks for payment event visibility, and custom incentive/reward configurations tied to pay-by-bank usage. Developer documentation is at dev.aero.inc.
What industry is Aeropay in?
Aeropay's product category is Payment Processing Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAMAFAF, A2A Checkout & Merchant Acceptance Solutions, with a secondary code of FSAMAFAB, A2A Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs). Its NAICS code is 52232 and its SIC code is 6199.