Central Payments
Central Payments is a Sioux Falls-based embedded finance platform offering payment cards, digital banking, and money-movement services through its Open*CP API marketplace. The company serves brands seeking to embed financial products and banks requiring BaaS program management and compliance oversight.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersDell Rapids, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Central Payments does
Central Payments is an embedded finance and banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, operating as a privately held LLC. The company was founded in 2014 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Central Bank of Kansas City and completed a $30 million growth equity raise in August 2022 led by Castle Creek Capital with participation from Launchpad Capital, enabling its spin-off as a standalone entity. Central Payments serves two primary customer segments in a two-sided marketplace model: (1) brands — non-financial companies seeking to embed financial products (cards, banking, payments) into their customer offerings without building compliance and regulatory infrastructure themselves; and (2) banks — institutions that want to participate in embedded finance while relying on Central Payments for program management, compliance oversight, and settlement services.
The company's core product suite is organized around three pillars: Digital Banking (FBO trust accounts, DDA, savings), Payment Cards (full access debit, general purpose prepaid, restricted access prepaid, incentive/loyalty prepaid, and payroll/EWA cards), and Money-Movement (Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Standard and Same-Day ACH, MasterCard Send, Bill Pay, Remote Deposit Capture, and merchant-funded rewards). These products are delivered through Open*CP, a proprietary API Marketplace that provides a single integration point to the entire payments landscape and processes 40 million API calls annually with 99.975% pass rate and 500ms average response time. Additional offerings include PayCP, a white-label turnkey payout product; the Falls Fintech 12-week accelerator program for early-stage startups; and the Fintech Brews podcast for industry thought leadership. The platform is PCI DSS compliant.
Central Payments generates revenue through managed-services fees for end-to-end program management (compliance, oversight, settlement) and transaction-based fees accessed through the Open*CP API Marketplace, with quote-based pricing under multi-year enterprise contracts. Go-to-market combines consultative direct enterprise sales — featuring a Discovery, Build, Launch, Grow, Respond lifecycle with dedicated Partner Success Managers — with API-first self-service integration and an event-driven funnel through the Falls Fintech accelerator. Named brand partners include Payactiv, Paysend, Snap Finance, Intermex, Paychex, Tapcheck, Fourth, and Elektra Go, spanning earned wage access, global remittances, consumer finance, payroll, restaurant fintech, and digital banking. The company currently has 11-50 employees and maintains a domestic US focus, with no disclosed revenue, ARR, or GMV figures.
Central Payments firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Central Payments
- Legal name
- Central Payments
- Website
- https://central-payments.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Central Payments is a Sioux Falls-based embedded finance platform offering payment cards, digital banking, and money-movement services through its Open*CP API marketplace. The company serves brands seeking to embed financial products and banks requiring BaaS program management and compliance oversight.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Central Payments industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Banking-as-a-Service / Embedded Finance Platform
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Depository Credit Intermediation (5221)
- SIC
- Finance Services (6199), Functions Related To Depository Banking, Nec (6099), Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution (6159)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Embedded Payments (Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Wallets) (FSAGALAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Merchant Payment Gateways (API/Hosted Checkout) (FSAMACAA), Payables & Disbursements (ACH/SEPA, wires, checks, virtual cards) (FSABAIAB)
Keywords
Where Central Payments is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Dell Rapids
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Central Payments business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Program Management Services: Full service program management for brands including compliance, oversight, and settlement services. Revenue derived from managing the complete lifecycle of payment programs for partner brands.
- Banking-as-a-Service for Banks: Provides banks with compliance, oversight, and settlement services through the BaaS model, supporting the bank's participation in embedded finance arrangements.
- API Marketplace Access: One contract, one partnership structure providing access to all service providers under one hood. Transparent pricing model with single integration point.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Enterprise Program Management |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Central Payments product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Central Payments provides embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service infrastructure, delivering configurable payment cards (debit, prepaid, payroll/earned wage access, incentive/loyalty), digital banking (FBO trust accounts, DDA, savings), and money-movement services (ACH, same-day ACH, MasterCard Send, Google/Apple/Samsung Pay, bill pay, remote deposit capture). The offering is delivered through the proprietary Open*CP API Marketplace, which gives brands and banks a single integration point to the entire payments landscape, plus full program management, compliance oversight and settlement services under one contract.
Product overview
Central Payments operates as an embedded finance platform offering a comprehensive suite of payment solutions organized around three core products: Digital Banking (FBO trust accounts, DDA, Savings), Payment Cards (debit, prepaid, payroll, earned wage access), and Money-Movement (digital wallets, ACH, MasterCard Send). These products are delivered through the proprietary Open*CP API Marketplace platform, which provides a single integration point to the entire payments landscape. Additional offerings include PayCP (white-label quick payout solution), the Falls Fintech Accelerator Program for startup acceleration, and the Fintech Brews Podcast for industry engagement.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Falls Fintech: A 12-week accelerator program designed to expedite the path to market for early-stage financial technology startups
- Fintech Brews
- Open*CP
- PayCP
Products and services
- Digital Banking Establishes and manages For Benefit Of (FBO) trust accounts for consumer and commercial funding needs, including Demand Deposit Accounts (DDA), savings accounts and funds transfer. Offered to brands and banks as part of Central Payments' embedded finance stack.
- Payment Cards Configurable digital and physical card issuance including Full Access Debit, General Purpose Prepaid, Restricted Access General Purpose Prepaid, Incentive/Loyalty Prepaid, and Payroll + Earned Wage Access cards, for brands embedding card products into their offerings.
- Money-Movement Comprehensive money movement services including Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Standard ACH, Same Day ACH, MasterCard Send, Bill Pay, Remote Deposit Capture and merchant-funded rewards, plus cash-in/cash-out options for embedded finance programs.
- Open*CP API Marketplace Proprietary API platform providing single-source access to the entire payments landscape, enabling brands and banks to integrate digital banking, card issuance and money movement through one connection to multiple service providers. Processed 40M API calls in the past year with a 99.975% pass rate and 500ms average response time.
- PayCP (Quick Payout Solution) White-label, turnkey payout product that lets recipients choose from a variety of payout options through a secure online portal, sold to brands needing quick disbursement functionality.
Quantifiable outcome
- 40M API calls processed in the past year
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Central Payments
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Central Payments technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration8 records
Feature5 records
Central Payments partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and minor.
- PayactivflagshipPayactiv partnered with Central Payments for earned wage access solutions. Payactiv Co-founder and COO Ijaz Anwar stated they partnered because Central Payments shared their vision of providing employees on-demand access to earned wages addressing critical needs among working Americans.
- PaysendflagshipGlobal payment solution provider partnered with Central Payments for technology-forward banking infrastructure. Paysend's Chief Strategy Officer Jairo Rivero highlighted Central Payments' Open*CP technology platform as vital for their success as a next-generation global payment solution.
- Snap FinanceflagshipConsumer fintech partnered with Central Payments for compliance-conscious financing solutions. Snap Finance Former SVP Mylee Vigness noted Central Payments' deep appreciation for compliance and risk management balanced with innovation and agility.
- Falls Fintech Accelerator PartnersminorFalls Fintech accelerator program supports early-stage fintech startups with 12-week curriculum. Companies in the accelerator gain access to Central Payments' banking infrastructure and mentorship from industry leaders including CEO Nikkee Rhody and President Eric Cotton.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Central Payments competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Marqeta: Public card-issuing platform providing modern card processing and issuing infrastructure; competes directly with Central Payments' card issuance and money-movement capabilities for embedded finance use cases including prepaid, debit and EWA cards.
- Unit: Banking-as-a-service platform offering deposit accounts, card issuing, lending, and payments through APIs; targets the same brand and fintech customer base with a similar full-stack embedded finance proposition as Central Payments.
- Synctera: BaaS platform connecting fintechs with community banks and providing program management tooling; directly competes with Central Payments' two-sided bank-and-brand marketplace model.
- Treasury Prime: Banking-as-a-service platform connecting banks and fintechs with embedded banking, account opening, payments, and compliance APIs; competes for both bank partnerships and brand programs.
- Lithic: Modern card issuing API platform supporting debit, credit, and prepaid programs for fintechs and brands; overlapping product offering with Central Payments' card issuance and money-movement features.
Broad incumbents
- Stripe Treasury: Embedded financial services offering from Stripe providing bank accounts, cards, and payments APIs; broader incumbent with significantly greater scale and developer ecosystem competing for the same embedded finance demand.
- Cross River Bank: Federally chartered commercial bank offering sponsor banking, compliance, and BaaS infrastructure to fintechs and brands; comparable to Central Payments' bank-sponsorship role with a much larger balance sheet and broader product set.
- Lead Bank: Community bank providing sponsor banking for BaaS programs including card issuing and deposit accounts; comparable to Central Payments' partner-bank function with growing focus on embedded finance partnerships.
- Sutton Bank: Federally chartered bank issuing prepaid and debit cards for fintech programs; comparable to Central Payments' prepaid/payroll card issuing function as a sponsor bank with deep BaaS experience.
- Adyen: Global payments platform offering unified commerce and embedded financial products; a broader incumbent that competes for large enterprise brands seeking embedded payment capabilities at greater scale.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Central Payments social profiles
Digital presenceCentral Payments compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Central Payments financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Central Payments leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Central Payments funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Central Payments 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 Central Payments
What does Central Payments do?
Central Payments provides embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service infrastructure, delivering configurable payment cards (debit, prepaid, payroll/earned wage access, incentive/loyalty), digital banking (FBO trust accounts, DDA, savings), and money-movement services (ACH, same-day ACH, MasterCard Send, Google/Apple/Samsung Pay, bill pay, remote deposit capture). The offering is delivered through the proprietary Open*CP API Marketplace, which gives brands and banks a single integration point to the entire payments landscape, plus full program management, compliance oversight and settlement services under one contract.
Is Central Payments a public or private company?
Central Payments is a private company. It is classified as private equity controlled and is currently operating.
When was Central Payments founded?
Central Payments was founded in 2014. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Central Payments based?
Central Payments is headquartered in Dell Rapids, United States, in the North America region.
How does Central Payments make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Program Management Services are the primary driver. The others are banking-as-a-Service for Banks and API Marketplace Access.
Who are Central Payments's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Marqeta, Unit, Synctera, Treasury Prime and Lithic. Broad incumbents are Stripe Treasury, Cross River Bank, Lead Bank, Sutton Bank and Adyen.
Does Central Payments have an API?
Yes. Central Payments offers its Open*CP API Marketplace - a proprietary API platform that serves as a single-source access point to the entire payments landscape. The platform processes payment products and supports various payment functions. Platform metrics include 40M API calls in the past year, 99.975% API request pass rate, and 500ms average response time. Developer documentation is at www.open-cp.com.
What industry is Central Payments in?
Central Payments's product category is Banking-as-a-Service / Embedded Finance Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGALAB, Embedded Payments (Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Wallets), with a secondary code of FSAMACAA, Merchant Payment Gateways (API/Hosted Checkout). Its NAICS code is 522320 and its SIC code is 6199.