Forward
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2001
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Forward does
Forward (legal entity DBD Ventures LLC, incorporated in Texas) is an embedded payments infrastructure provider for SaaS software platforms. The company offers a Payment Facilitator-as-a-Service (PFAC-as-a-Service) platform that allows vertical and horizontal SaaS companies to embed payment processing, payouts, merchant onboarding, underwriting, risk management, and reconciliation into their own products without building payments infrastructure from scratch. The core technology stack is a proprietary API with low-code tools, embeddable elements, and developer resources that typically enable integration in under two weeks, complemented by a tokenization vault (via VGS), network token services, same-day ACH payouts (via Cross River Bank), and interchange optimization tooling targeting the 70-90% of payment cost represented by interchange.
The product is delivered through four tiers that scale with platform maturity: Protect (managed PFAC with payment loss insurance, 65% revenue retention to platform), Maximize (managed PFAC plus expert services and white-label sales support, 75% retention; first 300 customers free), Rails (managed PFAC for high-adoption platforms, 85% retention), and PFAC (full payment facilitator license where platforms retain 100% of payment economics and run their own payments business on Forward's technology stack, ideal for platforms with $2B+ payment volume). The go-to-market combines direct enterprise sales targeting SaaS founders and executives with API-first self-service integration for mid-market platforms, plus a distinctive white-label sales service in which Forward's team sells payments on behalf of software platforms.
Forward is led by CEO Brandon Lloyd, a three-time SaaS/payments founder and former senior executive at a Fortune 100 fintech with PFAC and embedded payments experience; CTO Derek Victory, a 20-year senior engineer who has personally coded 15+ payments integrations; and Head of Partnerships Danielle Madison, a 13-year SaaS/payments veteran. The company has cumulatively helped 1,200+ platforms design payment programs, raised $16M in May 2024 led by Commerce Ventures with participation from Elefund and Fiserv, expanded to Canada in January 2026, and earned recognition including Business Insider's 49 Most Promising Fintechs (2024) and three consecutive Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area honors (2024-2026).
Forward firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Forward
- Legal name
- DBD Ventures LLC
- Website
- https://getfwd.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2001
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Forward industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Embedded Payments Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure (FSAGABAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Marketplace / Platform Acquiring (PayFac & Sub-Merchant Management) (FSAMABAF), Embedded Payments (Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Wallets) (FSAGALAB), Payment Orchestration Platforms (Multi-PSP Routing) (FSAMACAB)
Keywords
Where Forward is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Forward business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Payment Facilitation - Protect Tier: Managed PFAC offering where Forward handles payments operations with 65% revenue share retained by the software platform. Includes payment loss insurance, white label payments sales, compliance and registration, underwriting and monitoring, developer tools and support, and white label merchant software. Ideal for platforms with payment volume under $50M, 100+ SaaS customers, and less than 50% payment adoption.
- Payment Facilitation - Maximize Tier: Managed PFAC offering with 75% revenue share plus expert services to accelerate payment adoption. Includes program design and adjustments, underwriting and monitoring, developer tools, developer support, authorizations, and settlement. Forward's team helps drive adoption through white-label sales support and marketing materials. Ideal for platforms with payment volume under $500M, 1,000+ SaaS customers, and 0-1 payments staff.
- Payment Facilitation - Rails Tier: Managed PFAC offering with 85% revenue share for high-adoption platforms. Includes technology, money movement, and services as a PFAC. Ideal for platforms with $500M+ payment volume, 1,000+ SaaS customers, over 50% payment adoption, and 5-10 payments staff.
- PFAC Technology License: Full PFAC license where software platforms run their own payments business using Forward's technology stack. Platforms retain 100% of payment economics. Forward becomes a SaaS vendor to the payments business. Ideal for platforms with $2B+ payment volume, 5,000+ SaaS customers, and 10+ payments staff.
- Adoption Growth Services: White-label sales services where Forward's team sells payments on behalf of software platforms. Includes payment sales as a service, merchant pricing optimization, and statement analysis to demonstrate savings. Revenue generated through higher payment volume and adoption rates.
- Same-Day ACH Payouts-as-a-Service: Payouts-as-a-service and embedded payment solutions for SaaS providers via partnership with Cross River Bank. Same-day ACH payouts through Forward's proprietary API technology.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Protect - Entry-level managed PFAC with 65% revenue retention |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Maximize - Growth-focused PFAC with 75% revenue retention and expert services |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Rails - High-adoption PFAC with 85% revenue retention |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | PFAC - Full payment facilitator license with 100% revenue retention |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Forward product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Forward provides embedded payments infrastructure for SaaS software platforms, enabling them to offer payment processing, payouts, merchant onboarding, risk management, and financial services within their own products. The platform is delivered through four tiered programs (Protect, Maximize, Rails, and full PFAC) that range from managed payment facilitation services with loss insurance to a full payment facilitator technology license, allowing software platforms to retain 65% to 100% of payment economics.
Product overview
Forward is an embedded payments platform for software companies, providing a unified managed Payment Facilitator-as-a-Service (PFAC-as-a-Service) platform. The offering spans four tiers: PFAC (full payment facilitator licensing), Rails (tech plus money movement), Maximize (adds expert services and sales support), and Protect (adds loss insurance). The platform provides end-to-end embedded payments infrastructure including onboarding, underwriting, risk management, compliance, developer tools, and white-label merchant software. Revenue sharing ranges from 65% to 100% of payments revenue depending on the program tier, with programs designed to scale as platforms grow from sub-50% to full payment facilitation.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Protect Managed payment facilitator program for SaaS platforms with under $50M payment volume, 100+ SaaS customers, less than 50% payment adoption, and 0-1 payments staff, where Forward assumes loss liability for fraud and customer defaults while the SaaS platform retains 65% of payment revenue.
- Maximize Managed PFAC offering combining technology, human expertise, and white-label services to help SaaS platforms accelerate payment adoption while retaining 75% of payment revenue; ideal for platforms with $50M+ payment volume, 1,000+ SaaS customers, and 0-1 payments staff.
- Rails Managed PFAC program for high-adoption SaaS platforms that provides payment technology, money movement, and services while platforms retain 85% of payment economics; targets platforms processing $500M+ in volume with 1,000+ customers and 5-10 payments staff.
- PFAC (Payment Facilitator as a Service) Full payment facilitator technology license enabling SaaS platforms to register as PFACs and run their own payments business on Forward's technology stack while retaining 100% of payment economics; targets the largest platforms ($2B+ payment volume, 5,000+ customers, 10+ payments staff) that want to assume compliance and risk in-house.
- CommsHub Automated white-label communications platform that handles merchant messaging across the entire merchant journey for SaaS platforms, providing proactive communications without requiring platform staff involvement.
- Canadian Payment Operations Cross-border payment operations capability allowing SaaS platforms to process payments in both Canada and the United States through a single Forward stack, expanding market reach for software platforms operating in North America.
Quantifiable outcome
- Most software platforms join with fewer than 20% of customers using payments - Forward helps achieve 70%+ payments adoption
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Forward
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Forward technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature12 records
Forward partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
20 partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Cross River BankcorePartnership to offer payouts-as-a-service and embedded payment solutions to SaaS providers. Collaboration provides same-day ACH payouts through Forward's proprietary API technology, supported by Cross River's fintech infrastructure. Enables SaaS platforms to boost revenue, improve customer experience, and increase product stickiness. Cross River provides banking and ACH rails as part of the embedded payments ecosystem.
- Fiserv, Inc.coreSub-processor for merchant boarding, underwriting, and settlement as acquiring processor. Handles sub-merchant onboarding and underwriting application data including legal name, EIN, beneficial owners, address, MCC. Processes monthly settlement files.
- Amazon Web Services, Inc.coreCloud infrastructure and hosting provider. All cardholder, merchant, and applicant data at rest and in transit stored in AWS databases, object storage, secrets, and keys.
- CardConnect (Fiserv)coreCard payment gateway providing processing capabilities. Handles cardholder data including card number context, name on card, AVS/CVV results, and EMV transactions.
- Cross River BankcoreBanking and ACH rails partner. Handles bank account and ACH data, payout and settlement transactions, and account numbers. Supports same-day ACH payouts.
- Plaid Inc.supportingBank account verification and funding services. End-user and merchant bank account linking via Plaid tokens including account and routing data.
- Socure Inc.supportingIndividual identity verification (KYC) provider. Processes applicant KYC data including name, address, email, phone, device signals, and watchlist and fraud scores.
- BaselayersupportingBusiness identity verification (KYB) provider. Processes business KYB data including business name, TIN/EIN, officer names, address, and watchlist data.
- TaktilesupportingUnderwriting decisioning engine that orchestrates KYC/KYB vendor calls. Receives complete merchant/payee onboarding application including all applicant PII and KYB data.
- Snowflake Inc.supportingData warehouse and settlement analytics provider. Processes settlement, authorization, funding, and dispute transaction data.
- Twilio Inc. (SendGrid)supportingTransactional email delivery provider. Handles end-user and merchant email addresses and message content.
- Freshworks Inc. (Freshdesk)supportingCustomer support ticketing system. Processes support ticket contents and requester contact details.
- SvixsupportingWebhook delivery infrastructure provider. Delivers outbound webhook event payloads to partners including payment event data.
- Very Good Security, Inc. (VGS)supportingCardholder data tokenization vault. Handles PAN/CVC data, network token provisioning, and account updater services.
- GrailPaysupportingBank payment and ACH processing provider. Handles merchant bank account and ACH payment data.
- TrueBizsupportingBusiness verification provider. Processes business application data reached via Taktile.
- Experian plcsupportingIdentity and credit data provider. Processes applicant identity and credit signal data via Taktile.
- Mastercard MATCHsupportingMerchant screening service via Taktile. Provides terminated-merchant screening data for compliance and risk management.
- PlanetScale, Inc.supportingManaged database provider. Processes operational transaction and account data.
- Confluent, Inc. / WarpStreamsupportingEvent streaming infrastructure provider. Processes transaction event-stream data for real-time payment processing.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Forward competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Finix: Finix is a direct competitor offering PayFac-as-a-Service and embedded payments infrastructure for software platforms, with a similar tiered pricing structure allowing platforms to retain varying shares of payment economics. Most directly comparable to Forward's PFAC, Rails, and Maximize offerings.
- Marqeta: Marqeta provides card-issuing and payment infrastructure enabling platforms to build and manage card programs. Comparable to Forward's modern API-first, developer-centric approach to embedded payments.
- Spreedly: Spreedly provides payment orchestration and infrastructure that allows platforms to connect to multiple payment services through a single API. Comparable to Forward's payment orchestration and multi-PSP capabilities.
- Payrix: Payrix (now part of FIS) offers embedded payments for SaaS platforms with PayFac enablement. Direct overlap with Forward's Protect/Maximize/Rails tiers targeting software-platform merchant payment programs.
Broad incumbents
- Stripe: Stripe Connect provides embedded payments infrastructure for platforms of all sizes with global reach. While much broader in scope than Forward, it competes head-to-head for SaaS platform payment programs and sets market pricing benchmarks.
- Adyen: Adyen for Platforms offers unified payments infrastructure for marketplaces and SaaS platforms globally. Competes with Forward on enterprise-grade platform payment processing with broader geographic coverage.
- Stax: Stax (formerly Fattmerchant) provides embedded payments and subscription billing infrastructure for SaaS and ISV partners. Competes with Forward on payment facilitator enablement for software platforms.
Emerging players
- Highnote: Highnote is a modern card issuing and embedded payments platform serving fintechs and SaaS companies. Comparable to Forward's API-first, white-label payment infrastructure model.
- Modern Treasury: Modern Treasury provides payment operations infrastructure including money movement, reconciliation, and bank integrations. Adjacent to Forward's payouts-as-a-service and payment operations suite.
- Unit: Unit offers banking-as-a-service and embedded financial products for software platforms, including accounts, cards, and payments. Overlaps with Forward's broader embedded-payments-for-SaaS proposition.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Forward social profiles
Digital presenceForward financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Forward leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Forward funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors3 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Forward 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 Forward
What does Forward do?
Forward provides embedded payments infrastructure for SaaS software platforms, enabling them to offer payment processing, payouts, merchant onboarding, risk management, and financial services within their own products. The platform is delivered through four tiered programs (Protect, Maximize, Rails, and full PFAC) that range from managed payment facilitation services with loss insurance to a full payment facilitator technology license, allowing software platforms to retain 65% to 100% of payment economics.
Is Forward a public or private company?
Forward is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Forward founded?
Forward was founded in 2001. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Forward based?
Forward is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Forward make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Payment Facilitation - Protect Tier is the primary driver. The others are payment Facilitation - Maximize Tier, payment Facilitation - Rails Tier, PFAC Technology License, adoption Growth Services and same-Day ACH Payouts-as-a-Service.
Who are Forward's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Finix, Marqeta, Spreedly and Payrix. Broad incumbents are Stripe, Adyen and Stax. Emerging players are Highnote, Modern Treasury and Unit.
Does Forward have an API?
Yes. Forward offers a proprietary API technology for embedded payments integration. The platform provides sandbox environments for testing integrations with APIs and payment processing services in non-production environments. Partners must enter into a payment processing agreement before using APIs or services in production. The platform supports third-party gateway integrations and webhook delivery via Svix for outbound event payloads. Developer documentation is at www.getfwd.com/technical-implementation.
What industry is Forward in?
Forward's product category is Embedded Payments Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGABAE, Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure, with a secondary code of FSAMABAF, Marketplace / Platform Acquiring (PayFac & Sub-Merchant Management). Its NAICS code is 522320 and its SIC code is 7370.