Tern
Tern is a U.S. fintech-as-a-service company that provides cloud-based card issuing and cross-border payment infrastructure to fintechs, platforms, and global businesses across 120 countries, consolidating KYC, card issuance, bank transfers, and compliance into a single platform.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Tern does
Tern Commerce Inc. is a U.S.-headquartered fintech-as-a-service company that provides cloud-based card issuing and cross-border payment infrastructure to fintechs, platforms, and global businesses. The company was founded in 2021 and operates from Atlanta Tech Village in Atlanta, Georgia, with a team of 11-50 employees. Tern's platform consolidates program management, KYC onboarding, virtual and physical prepaid card issuance, bank transfers, cross-border money movement, back-office tooling, and customer support capabilities into a single integrated offering. The company claims coverage across 120 countries with $1B+ in annual card volume and 250,000 annual cross-border transactions.
The underlying technology architecture is a cloud-based unified platform that aggregates banking rails under one API and UI surface, allowing clients to launch credit/debit card programs and operate cross-border payment flows without assembling fragmented point solutions. Compliance tooling — including KYC for verifying people, businesses, and bank accounts — is built into the product rather than offered as a third-party integration, and the company's value proposition centers on speed-to-launch and consolidated regulatory management across multiple jurisdictions.
Tern generates revenue primarily through transaction fees on card program infrastructure and cross-border payment flows, with custom-quoted enterprise pricing and no publicly disclosed rate card. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales, evidenced by a 'Book a Demo' call-to-action on the website and a horizontal segmentation approach targeting fintechs, platforms, and global businesses. The company has raised approximately $1.9M across two funding rounds in 2021 and 2022, is privately held, and reports no parent company, subsidiaries, or named enterprise customers in available data.
Tern firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Tern
- Legal name
- Tern Commerce Inc.
- Website
- https://ternitup.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Tern is a U.S. fintech-as-a-service company that provides cloud-based card issuing and cross-border payment infrastructure to fintechs, platforms, and global businesses across 120 countries, consolidating KYC, card issuance, bank transfers, and compliance into a single platform.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Tern industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Fintech-as-a-Service / Payment Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Credit Card Issuing (52221), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Depository Credit Intermediation (5221)
- SIC
- National Commercial Banks (6021), American Depositary Receipts (8880)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Cross-Border Card-Based Transfers & Multi-Currency Cards (FSAGAKAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Remittance & Cross-Border Payment Rails (SWIFT, Local Clearing, RTP Connectivity) (FSAGAKAH), SME & Business Cross-Border Payments (FSAGAKAB), Cross-Border Compliance & Controls (Sanctions Screening, Travel Rule, KYT) (FSAGAKAK)
Keywords
Where Tern is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Tern business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Card Program Infrastructure: Revenue generated from providing card issuing and program management infrastructure to fintechs, platforms, and global businesses. The platform supports both domestic and cross-border money flows.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Tern product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Tern provides card issuing and cross-border payment infrastructure as a fintech-as-a-service platform, enabling fintechs, platforms, and global businesses to launch and operate card programs and international money movement. The platform bundles program management, KYC/compliance, and payment orchestration across 120+ countries, processing over $1 billion in annual card volume and 250,000 cross-border transactions.
Product overview
Tern is a cloud-based unified platform for card issuing and cross-border payment infrastructure. The platform serves fintechs, platforms, and global businesses, combining Program Management and Fintech Infrastructure as the core components, with integrated Compliance tools for regulatory requirements. The platform's banking services include Onboarding (KYC) for identity verification, Cards (virtual and physical prepaid), Bank Transfers, Cross Border money movement, Back Office Tools, and Customer Support capabilities — all accessible through a single integrated platform. The company reports serving 120 countries with over $1B in annual card volume and 250,000 annual cross-border transactions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Program Management
Companies that use Tern
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Tern technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Tern partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Tern competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Marqeta: Public card-issuing infrastructure platform serving fintechs and platforms with APIs for credit/debit and prepaid programs. Closest functional analogue to Tern's card-issuing core, though at vastly larger scale and capitalisation.
- Galileo Financial Technologies: Payment processing and card-issuing infrastructure owned by SoFi, providing APIs and program management to fintechs and banks. Directly comparable to Tern's combined program management + issuing + compliance stack.
- Synctera: Banking-as-a-service platform pairing fintechs with sponsor bank partners for card issuing, accounts and compliance. Highly comparable to Tern's integrated issuing + compliance + cross-border offering for fintech clients.
- Unit: Banking-as-a-service provider offering embedded accounts, cards, lending and compliance infrastructure to fintechs and platforms. Overlaps directly with Tern's target customers and unified platform approach.
- Highnote: Card-issuing and account platform for fintechs and brands, with multi-currency and cross-border capabilities. Closely matches Tern's combined issuing + cross-border payments focus.
Broad incumbents
- Stripe Issuing: Card-issuing product within Stripe's broader payments platform. Competes with Tern's card-issuing functionality but benefits from Stripe's global scale and existing merchant relationships.
- Adyen: Global payments platform offering acquiring, issuing-style services and cross-border capabilities to large enterprises. Operates in the same broad card and cross-border infrastructure space as Tern, but at much larger scale and with a different primary customer set.
- Lead Bank: US sponsor bank providing BIN sponsorship and embedded finance infrastructure to many fintechs and platforms. Comparable as a regulated partner enabling card programs similar to those Tern offers to its clients.
Regional players
- Solaris SE: Europe-based banking-as-a-service platform offering issuing, accounts, lending and cross-border payments under EU licences. Functionally analogous to Tern but operating primarily in European corridors.
- Treezor: French payment institution (owned by Société Générale) offering card-issuing and payment infrastructure APIs to fintechs in Europe. Comparable in business model to Tern but with a primarily European geographic footprint.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Tern social profiles
Digital presenceTern financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Tern leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Tern funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Tern 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 Tern
What does Tern do?
Tern provides card issuing and cross-border payment infrastructure as a fintech-as-a-service platform, enabling fintechs, platforms, and global businesses to launch and operate card programs and international money movement. The platform bundles program management, KYC/compliance, and payment orchestration across 120+ countries, processing over $1 billion in annual card volume and 250,000 cross-border transactions.
Is Tern a public or private company?
Tern is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Tern founded?
Tern was founded in 2021. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Tern based?
Tern is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Tern make money?
One revenue line is on record: card Program Infrastructure.
Who are Tern's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Marqeta, Galileo Financial Technologies, Synctera, Unit and Highnote. Broad incumbents are Stripe Issuing, Adyen and Lead Bank. Regional players are Solaris SE and Treezor.
Does Tern have an API?
No public API is recorded for Tern.
What industry is Tern in?
Tern's product category is Fintech-as-a-Service / Payment Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGAKAE, Cross-Border Card-Based Transfers & Multi-Currency Cards, with a secondary code of FSAGAKAH, Remittance & Cross-Border Payment Rails (SWIFT, Local Clearing, RTP Connectivity). Its NAICS code is 52221 and its SIC code is 6021.