Celero Commerce

What Celero Commerce does

Celero Commerce is a full-service, integrated electronic commerce and payment processing provider founded in late 2018 and headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. The company serves small and mid-sized merchants, independent sales organizations, integrated software vendors, and financial institutions through a proprietary technology platform that combines a modular payment gateway (Celero Connect), merchant onboarding and portfolio management (Compass CRM), real-time business intelligence (CeleroBI), automated underwriting (Confirm), and PCI-compliant processing (Celero PCI). Vertical-specific offerings include BankMax for financial institutions, Streamline for small businesses, and Celero Fusion, a managed PayFac-style embedded payments platform that goes live with ISV partners in an average of 11 weeks.

Celero monetizes primarily through transaction fees on credit, debit, ACH, and check processing, supplemented by revenue sharing with ISV partners and referral or white-label arrangements with banks and credit unions, plus hardware sales and bundled SaaS access to 5,000+ business management tools. Distribution is multi-channel: direct-to-merchant sales, a 175+ bank referral and white-label network, an ISO and agent channel with direct wholesale access to TSYS and Fiserv, and an API-first developer program supporting iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux integrations. Notable customers include School of Rock, Pike13, Amada Senior Care, Welenken CPA, RazorSync, and Toni's Courtyard Café, spanning music education, senior care, professional services, restaurants, and field service software.

Growth has been driven by an aggressive acquisition strategy—twelve deals completed between 2018 and 2026, including OMEGA Technology, Everest Payment Solutions, Precision Payments, and Petroleum Processing Solutions—building toward $28 billion+ in annual processing volume and over $200 million in annual revenue across 55,000+ US merchants. In June 2026, Deluxe Corporation agreed to acquire Celero for $625 million in an all-cash transaction expected to close in Q3 2026, which would position the combined entity among the ten largest non-bank merchant acquirers in the United States.

Name

Celero Commerce

Legal name

Celero Commerce, LLC

Website

https://celerocommerce.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Celero Commerce is a full-service integrated payment processing provider serving small and mid-sized merchants, ISVs, ISOs, and financial institutions through a proprietary gateway, merchant management, and embedded payments platform spanning 100+ industries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Processing Technology

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

E-commerce & Retail CRM (Customer Data, Loyalty & Personalization) (HDAEAFAE)

Keywords

• Payment processing services
• Merchant services
• Integrated payments platform
• Embedded payment solutions
• Payment gateway technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Nashville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Payment Processing Transaction Fees: Core revenue from processing credit/debit card transactions, ACH and check services, and payment gateway fees for merchants across all channels.
2. ISV Revenue Sharing: Revenue sharing arrangements with integrated software vendors who embed Celero payment solutions. Partners earn a portion of processing revenue generated by their merchants.
3. Financial Institution Referral Income: Earns ongoing income by referring merchants to Celero for payment processing needs. Banks receive residual income through referral and white-label programs.
4. SaaS Bundled Solutions: Bundled SaaS solutions providing access to over 5,000 business management tools and payment solutions spanning 100+ industries as part of a bundled price.
5. Hardware and Equipment Sales: Sale and rental of payment terminals, POS systems, and card readers for merchants requiring physical hardware.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Celero Commerce is a full-service integrated electronic commerce solutions provider that delivers payment processing technology and merchant services to small and mid-sized businesses, financial institutions, ISVs, and ISOs. Its stack combines a modular payment gateway (Celero Connect), merchant onboarding CRM (Compass), real-time business intelligence (CeleroBI), automated underwriting (Confirm), PCI compliance tools, and embedded ISV payments (Celero Fusion), supported by developer APIs/SDKs and dedicated relationship management.

Product overview

Celero Commerce is a payment processing technology company offering a unified platform combining gateway processing, merchant management, and business analytics. The core platform is Celero Connect, a modular payment gateway enabling multi-channel acceptance (in-person, online, mobile) through a single API. This connects to complementary modules including Compass (CRM and merchant onboarding), CeleroBI (real-time portfolio analytics), Confirm (automated underwriting), and Celero PCI (security/compliance). For specialized verticals, the company offers BankMax for financial institutions, Streamline for small business payment acceptance, and Petroleum Processing Solutions for fuel/convenience retail. Celero Fusion provides embedded payments specifically for ISVs with managed PayFac capabilities, enabling software companies to offer payment processing through their platforms with dedicated support and ISV-specific pricing. Developer tools include Mobile SDKs for iOS/Android, Payment API, Collect.js, Collect Checkout, Webhooks, and Query API.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Celero Fusion: Embedded payments platform built specifically for independent software vendors (ISVs) offering integrated payment processing solutions
• Compass
• BankMax
• CeleroBI
• Confirm
• Streamline
• Connect Gateway

Products and services

• Celero Connect Modular payment gateway platform that enables merchants and developers to accept payments across all channels (in-person, online, mobile) through a single API-driven connection, including support for Apple Pay, Google Pay, virtual terminals, and developer SDKs.
• Celero Fusion Embedded payments platform for independent software vendors (ISVs) that delivers managed PayFac solutions, revenue sharing, ISV-specific pricing, dedicated onboarding, named support, and processes payments for 60,000+ merchants with approximately $28 billion in annual processing volume (average 11-week go-live).
• BankMax Program for financial institutions that harnesses data mining and advanced sales strategies to help banks and credit unions increase fee income, grow deposits, and attract new merchant customers through payment processing.
• Compass Merchant CRM and onboarding platform providing real-time reporting, intuitive dashboards, automated notifications, and merchant portfolio management capabilities for partners and direct merchants.
• CeleroBI Real-time portfolio business intelligence and analytics tool that helps merchants and partners analyze market trends, monitor portfolio performance, and tailor strategies to maximize returns.
• Confirm Proprietary automated merchant underwriting solution that verifies key data points quickly and securely while remaining compliant with regulatory requirements.
• Streamline Mobile payment processing solution enabling small businesses to accept payments anywhere using a smartphone or tablet, without requiring dedicated countertop hardware.
• Petroleum Processing Solutions (PPS) Specialized payment processing solutions for independent fuel retailers and convenience stores, including EMV-compliant pay-at-the-pump processing, multi-lane retail support, fleet cards, and integration with major petroleum POS systems (Gilbarco, Verifone, NCR, Comdata, Fuelmaster).

Quantifiable outcome

• 55,000+ merchants processed annually
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• EverBank, N.A.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 December 2024Strategic collaboration to enhance payment processing options for EverBank's clients across the United States. EverBank leverages Celero's advanced payment and analytics platform to streamline financial operations for small business to larger commercial corporate clients, offering real-time payment capabilities, fraud prevention tools, and in-depth financial analytics.
• Association of American Bankers (ABA)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAssociation partner providing payment solutions and opportunities for ABA members and their merchant clients/customers.
• Electronic Transactions Association (ETA)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAssociation partner providing payment solutions and opportunities for ETA members and their merchant clients/customers.
• Community Bankers Association (CBA)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAssociation partner providing payment solutions and opportunities for CBA members and their merchant clients/customers.
• Tennessee Bankers Association (TBA)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAssociation partner providing payment solutions and opportunities for TBA members and their merchant clients/customers.
• Community Bankers Association (CBW)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAssociation partner providing payment solutions and opportunities for CBW members and their merchant clients/customers.
• TSYScoreTechnology or IntegrationDirect access to TSYS as a wholesale partner for processing, enabling faster approvals and competitive rates for ISO/agent partners.
• FiservcoreTechnology or IntegrationDirect access to Fiserv as a wholesale partner for processing, enabling faster approvals and competitive rates for ISO/agent partners.
• Pinnacle Bank (Synovus Bank)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUnited Merchant Services of California, LLC is a registered Independent Sales Organization of Pinnacle Bank, a Tennessee Bank, dba Synovus Bank.
• PNC BankcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUnited Merchant Services of California, LLC is a registered Independent Sales Organization of PNC Bank, N.A.
• Deutsche Bank Trust Company AmericascoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOmega Processing Solutions, LLC is a registered ISO/MSP of Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, New York, New York.
• Wells Fargo BankcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMultiple registered ISOs including Elmhurst Financial Services, Tandem Innovative Payment Solutions, FlashBanc, LLC, and CBMS operate through Wells Fargo Bank.
• Fifth Third BankcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMultiple registered ISOs including Elmhurst Financial Services, Tandem Innovative Payment Solutions, and CBMS operate through Fifth Third Bank.
• Citizens BankcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMultiple registered ISOs including Elmhurst Financial Services, Tandem Innovative Payment Solutions, and FlashBanc operate through Citizens Bank.
• BMO Harris BankcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTransNational Payments is a registered Independent Sales Organization of BMO Harris Bank, N.A.
• KeyBankcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorElmhurst Financial Services is a registered Independent Sales Organization of KeyBank, N.A., Cleveland, OH.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Block (Square): Square is a leading payments and POS provider for SMBs across retail and restaurants, directly competing with Celero's Streamline, Clover, and direct-to-merchant offerings. Both target similar merchant segments with bundled hardware/software/processing solutions.
• Heartland Payment Systems (Global Payments): Heartland is one of the largest non-bank merchant acquirers in the US serving SMBs across retail, restaurant, and service verticals. It competes head-to-head with Celero on ISO/agent channels, integrated POS, and SMB pricing programs, and is the closest analog to Celero's go-to-market model.
• North American Bancard: NAB is a major independent sales organization (ISO) and direct payment processor serving SMBs with a multi-channel distribution strategy similar to Celero's ISO/bank/direct mix. Both target ISOs, agents, and merchants with interchange-plus and flat-rate pricing.
• Stripe: Stripe is the leading developer-first payments platform with a strong embedded payments program for SaaS platforms. It is the most relevant peer to Celero Fusion and represents the primary competitive benchmark for ISV integrations, though Stripe skews larger-merchant and digital-native.
• Paya (now Nuvei): Paya is an integrated payments provider focused on B2B, ISV, and government verticals with embedded payment solutions. It is highly comparable to Celero's ISV and vertical-software strategy, and Celero's CFO previously held senior corporate development roles at Paya.

Broad incumbents

• Fiserv: Fiserv is one of the largest merchant acquirers globally and a core wholesale partner of Celero (alongside TSYS). It is a broad incumbent serving merchants of all sizes, with overlapping capabilities in processing, gateway, and ISV enablement.
• Global Payments: Global Payments is a top-tier merchant acquirer formed in part by the Heartland/Fiserv-era consolidation. It is a broad incumbent competitor and partner across SMB, enterprise, and ISV payments, with overlapping gateway, POS, and processing capabilities to Celero.

Emerging players

• Paymentus: Paymentus is a billing and payment processing provider serving billers, utilities, and SMBs with electronic bill presentment and payment solutions. It overlaps with Celero's recurring/ACH and vertical-software payment capabilities.
• Stax by Fattmerchant: Stax is a subscription-based payments platform targeting SMBs with transparent flat-rate pricing, similar to Celero's Streamline product. It is an emerging competitor in the SMB payment processing space with overlapping value proposition.
• Vanco Payments: Vanco Payments provides payment solutions to schools, non-profits, and faith-based institutions. It is an emerging peer in the vertical-software and specialized SMB payment space, and Celero's CTO previously served as Chief Product Officer at Vanco.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/celerocommerce
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCwyFa09HkgghAAlcSQQf85A
• Facebookfacebook.com/celerocomm
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/celerocommerce

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A13 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Celero Commerce