Chariot
Chariot is a New York City-based payments company that offers DAFpay, a transaction-fee-based payment processing solution targeting donor-advised fund transactions for nonprofits and DAF sponsors.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount501–1,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Chariot does
Chariot is a payments company headquartered in New York City that develops DAFpay, a payment processing solution purpose-built for donor-advised fund (DAF) transactions. The company operates as a single-product payments platform, with DAFpay positioned to facilitate payment flows between DAF sponsors, donors, and recipient nonprofit organizations. Its underlying technology is a payment processing stack targeted at a narrow vertical within charitable giving, and no further technical architecture details are disclosed in available sources.
The business model is built around transaction-based revenue: Chariot likely earns fees on payment processing volume flowing through DAFpay, though pricing is not publicly disclosed. Go-to-market is described as sales-led, focused on expanding DAFpay adoption within the DAF ecosystem. In August 2024, Chariot closed an $11 million funding round led by Maveron with participation from multiple investors, with proceeds earmarked to expand operations and accelerate product development. Beyond the single product and the lead investor relationship, no additional customers, partners, certifications, or geographic markets are disclosed in the available data.
An important caveat: the input also contains legacy firmographic data referencing a San Francisco shuttle transportation company called Chariot (founded 2014, 501–1000 employees), which historically raised seed capital in 2015 and 2016 from investors including Y Combinator, Maven Ventures, SoftTech, Winklevoss Capital, and others, and was later acquired and wound down. The current operating company described in the 2024 funding sources is the New York-based payments entity, and the legacy transportation references appear to describe a separate prior entity rather than the current business.
Chariot firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Chariot
- Legal name
- Chariot
- Website
- https://chariot.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 501–1,000 employees
- Short description
- Chariot is a New York City-based payments company that offers DAFpay, a transaction-fee-based payment processing solution targeting donor-advised fund transactions for nonprofits and DAF sponsors.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Chariot industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payment Processing
- akta.pro primary industry
- Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) Sponsors (BPAGAKAF)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- A2A Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) (FSAMAFAB)
Keywords
Where Chariot is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Chariot business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Payment Processing: Payments company offering DAFpay solution for donor-advised fund transactions. Revenue likely derived from transaction fees on payment processing.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Chariot product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Chariot is a payments company that offers DAFpay, a payment processing solution designed to facilitate donor-advised fund (DAF) transactions. The product streamlines payments between donors, charities, and DAF sponsors, serving as a dedicated infrastructure layer for the DAF ecosystem.
Product overview
Chariot is a payments company based in New York City that offers DAFpay, a payment solution designed for donor-advised fund transactions. The company operates as a single-product payments platform, with DAFpay being its primary offering.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- DAFpay: Payment solution developed by Chariot
Products and services
- DAFpay
Companies that use Chariot
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Chariot technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Chariot partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Recent moves3 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Chariot competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Modern Treasury: Modern Treasury provides payment operations infrastructure (APIs for ACH, wires, RTP, ledgers) that could plausibly be extended into DAF sponsor workflows. It represents the broader category of payment-infrastructure platforms Chariot must differentiate against as it builds DAFpay.
- Finix: Finix is a payments infrastructure provider enabling platforms to embed payment processing. While not DAF-specific, Finix represents the class of flexible payments-infrastructure competitors that could be configured to serve DAF sponsors if Chariot fails to entrench as the category specialist.
Broad incumbents
- Vanguard Charitable: Vanguard Charitable is a top-five U.S. DAF sponsor, part of the Vanguard group, and operates its own digital platform for DAF flows. It represents both a prospective customer segment for DAFpay and a potential in-house competitor.
- National Philanthropic Trust: National Philanthropic Trust is a major independent DAF sponsor that processes a high volume of DAF contributions and grants. It is a representative target customer for DAF payments infrastructure and an incumbent with the scale to internalize payment capabilities.
- BNY Mellon Charitable Gift Fund: BNY Mellon's Charitable Gift Fund is a large DAF sponsor with deep banking and payment-rail capabilities of its own. It illustrates the risk that incumbent financial institutions with custody and payment infrastructure can bypass third-party vendors like Chariot.
- Fidelity Charitable: Fidelity Charitable is the largest U.S. donor-advised fund sponsor by assets, operating proprietary digital infrastructure for DAF contributions and grants. It is the most likely incumbent to either absorb or displace a third-party DAF-payments vendor, and serves as the benchmark scale customer Chariot would need to win.
- Schwab Charitable: Schwab Charitable is one of the largest DAF sponsors in the U.S. with significant AUM and an established digital giving platform. As a major institutional DAF sponsor with in-house payment capabilities, it represents both a potential enterprise customer and a competitive threat to Chariot's DAFpay.
Direct peers
- Daffy: Daffy is a modern, tech-forward donor-advised fund sponsor that offers its own digital platform for DAF contributions, grants, and investing. It competes with Chariot by operating both as a DAF sponsor and as the user-facing payment/workflow layer for charitable giving — directly overlapping the donor experience Chariot's DAFpay targets.
Market position
Strengths3 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights4 records
Customer concentration
Chariot social profiles
Digital presenceChariot financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Chariot leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Chariot funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors11 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Chariot 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 Chariot
What does Chariot do?
Chariot is a payments company that offers DAFpay, a payment processing solution designed to facilitate donor-advised fund (DAF) transactions. The product streamlines payments between donors, charities, and DAF sponsors, serving as a dedicated infrastructure layer for the DAF ecosystem.
Is Chariot a public or private company?
Chariot is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Chariot founded?
Chariot was founded in 2014. It employs 501 to 1,000 people.
Where is Chariot based?
Chariot is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Chariot make money?
One revenue line is on record: payment Processing.
Who are Chariot's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Modern Treasury and Finix. Broad incumbents are Vanguard Charitable, National Philanthropic Trust, BNY Mellon Charitable Gift Fund, Fidelity Charitable and Schwab Charitable. Daffy is listed as a direct peer.
Does Chariot have an API?
No public API is recorded for Chariot.
What industry is Chariot in?
Chariot's product category is Payment Processing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAKAF, Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) Sponsors, with a secondary code of FSAMAFAB, A2A Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs).