Qualpay
Qualpay is a San Mateo-based integrated payment processing platform that combines gateway, acquiring, and processing capabilities with underwriting and analytics, serving merchants, ISOs, ISVs, and financial institutions across energy, propane, waste, eCommerce, B2B, home services, and nonprofit verticals.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersSan Mateo, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Qualpay does
Qualpay, Inc. is a private payment processing company founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Mateo, California. It operates an integrated, modular payment platform that combines gateway, acquiring, and processing capabilities with underwriting, dispute management, tokenization, and analytics in a single system, deployed through direct merchant sales, white-label arrangements for partners, and API/SDK integrations for software developers. The platform supports card-present, card-not-present, ACH/eCheck, recurring billing, Text-to-Pay, and virtual terminal workflows, and is sold under custom pricing based on transaction volume and business type. Qualpay serves merchants, Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), and financial institutions, with a vertical specialization in energy/utility, propane, waste management, eCommerce, B2B, home services, and nonprofit organizations — notably holding preferred-payments-partner status with the National Propane Gas Association and strategic relationships with Southeast Propane Alliance and Northwest Resource Association.
Revenue is generated through four primary streams: transaction-based processing fees on credit card and ACH volume, partner referral revenue shares paid to ISOs and referral partners, platform and technology subscription/white-label licensing for ISVs and financial institutions, and equipment sales and rentals. The acquiring/sponsoring bank is Synovus Bank (formerly Pinnacle Bank), which made an undisclosed strategic investment in April 2022 to support the rollout of an embedded finance platform. Qualpay maintains PCI DSS Level 1 Service Provider certification — the highest tier — and is compliant with NACHA rules for ACH processing and with CCPA/GDPR for data protection. Founded with an $8M Keiretsu Forum round in 2015 and operating with a small team (11-50 employees), Qualpay has scaled through vertical-specialization and partnership-led distribution rather than aggressive direct sales or large institutional funding rounds.
Qualpay firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Qualpay
- Legal name
- Qualpay, Inc.
- Website
- https://qualpay.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Qualpay is a San Mateo-based integrated payment processing platform that combines gateway, acquiring, and processing capabilities with underwriting and analytics, serving merchants, ISOs, ISVs, and financial institutions across energy, propane, waste, eCommerce, B2B, home services, and nonprofit verticals.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Qualpay industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payment Processing Services
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)
- SIC
- Finance Services (6199)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Integrated Payment Processors (PSP/Acquirer) (FSAMABAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Merchant Payment Gateways (API/Hosted Checkout) (FSAMACAA), Payment Gateways & Orchestration (BPAMAFAA), Payment Orchestration Platforms (FSAGABAA), EMV Chip, Magstripe & PIN Debit Acceptance (FSAMADAG)
Keywords
Where Qualpay is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Mateo
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Qualpay business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Payment Processing Services: Revenue generated from processing credit card and ACH transactions. Fees include interchange fees, processing fees, chargeback fees, and other charges as specified in the merchant agreement pricing fee schedule. Qualpay acts as the processor with Pinnacle Bank (Synovus Bank) as the sponsoring bank.
- Partner Referral Fees: Revenue sharing with partners through Processing Revenue Split. Partners receive a percentage of processing revenue collected from referred merchants, paid monthly by the 20th of the succeeding month.
- Platform and Technology Services: Revenue from white-label platform licensing and API access for merchants, ISOs, ISVs, and financial institutions requiring customized payment solutions.
- Equipment Sales and Rental: Point of sale terminal equipment sales and leasing to merchants as part of the payment processing services.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Monthly | Custom merchant pricing based on volume, transaction size, and business type |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Qualpay product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Qualpay is an integrated payment processing platform that combines gateway, acquiring, and processing capabilities into a single merchant account. It serves merchants, ISOs, ISVs, and financial institutions with tools for online, in-person, recurring, and ACH payments across multiple sales channels.
Product overview
Qualpay offers a unified integrated payment platform with multiple product modules covering online, in-person, and mobile payment acceptance. The core product suite includes Online Payments, Virtual Terminal, In Person Payments, Recurring Payments, Text-to-Pay, and ACH/eChecks processing. Supporting add-on modules include Tokenization, Customer Vault, and Account Updater for secure data storage and card data management. The platform also includes an Application, Boarding and Underwriting Module for merchant onboarding and a Reporting Platform for consolidated financial analytics. The platform serves diverse industries including nonprofit, energy/utilities, waste management, propane, eCommerce, B2B, and home services, and offers white-label and API integration options for ISOs, ISVs, and financial institutions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Online Payments
- Virtual Terminal
- In Person Payments
- Recurring Payments
- Text-to-Pay
- ACH/eChecks
- Application/Boarding/Underwriting Module
- Reporting Platform
Quantifiable outcome
- Reduced payment declines through Account Updater service keeping card data current
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Qualpay
Customer profileSegments11 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Qualpay technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature8 records
Qualpay partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.
- Southeast Propane Alliance (PPA)coreExpanded strategic partnership with Southeast Propane Alliance offering advanced payment solutions to propane industry members. This builds on the NPGA partnership to provide regional coverage within the propane sector.
- National Propane Gas Association (NPGA)flagshipNPGA selected Qualpay as Preferred Payments Partner for the propane industry. This is a flagship industry association partnership providing preferred status for payment processing services to NPGA member companies.
- ShoptypeminorStrategic partnership to integrate embedded payment solutions for cosellers through the Shoptype platform, enabling marketplace sellers to accept payments within the platform.
- Northwest Resource Association (NWRA)corePartnership with Northwest Resource Association providing payment solutions for waste management and related resource industries. NWRA is listed as a partner organization on Qualpay's website.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Qualpay competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Stax: Subscription-based integrated payment processor (formerly Fattmerchant) offering merchant accounts, gateway, and processing on a unified platform with API and ISO channels — directly comparable integrated-stack model targeting SMB and mid-market.
- Paysafe: Integrated payments provider with vertical specialization (including energy/utility bill pay) and a partner/ISO channel — comparable integrated-stack approach with vertical monetization.
- PaymentCloud: Merchant services provider serving high-risk and specialized verticals with ISO/reseller channels — comparable vertical focus and partner-led distribution.
- ClearAccept: Integrated payment platform combining gateway, merchant accounts, and value-added services with vertical targeting — comparable integrated-stack and ISO channel model.
- Payrix: Embedded payments platform purpose-built for software platforms and ISVs — directly comparable white-label, API-first positioning and SaaS vertical go-to-market.
- EBizCharge: Integrated payment gateway and processor with strong vertical specialization (B2B, manufacturing, utilities) and ERP/accounting integrations — directly comparable vertical-payment and ACH focus.
- Finix: Payments infrastructure provider enabling ISVs and platforms to monetize payments via APIs — directly comparable embedded-finance/white-label model targeting the same partner channel.
Broad incumbents
- Fiserv: Large-scale merchant acquiring and processing incumbent serving financial institutions and merchants across verticals — comparable integrated acquiring+processing at much larger scale.
- Stripe: Global payments incumbent with extensive API, embedded finance, and ISV partnerships — broader portfolio but overlapping API-first, ISV-led go-to-market.
- Global Payments: Major payment processor and acquirer with deep FI distribution and merchant services — comparable integrated platform serving multiple verticals and channel partners.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Qualpay social profiles
Digital presenceQualpay compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Qualpay financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Qualpay leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Qualpay funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Qualpay 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 Qualpay
What does Qualpay do?
Qualpay is an integrated payment processing platform that combines gateway, acquiring, and processing capabilities into a single merchant account. It serves merchants, ISOs, ISVs, and financial institutions with tools for online, in-person, recurring, and ACH payments across multiple sales channels.
Is Qualpay a public or private company?
Qualpay is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Qualpay founded?
Qualpay was founded in 2015. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Qualpay based?
Qualpay is headquartered in San Mateo, United States, in the North America region.
How does Qualpay make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Payment Processing Services are the primary driver. The others are partner Referral Fees, platform and Technology Services and equipment Sales and Rental.
Who are Qualpay's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Stax, Paysafe, PaymentCloud, ClearAccept, Payrix, EBizCharge and Finix. Broad incumbents are Fiserv, Stripe and Global Payments.
Does Qualpay have an API?
Yes. Qualpay provides a REST API accessible through its Developer Center (qualpay.com/developer) for integrating payment processing capabilities. The API enables merchants, ISVs, and partners to integrate payment acceptance including card processing, ACH payments, tokenization, customer vault management, and transaction reporting. API keys are provided during testing (sandbox) and must be kept secure. Integration methods include modern REST API, SDKs, and pre-built plugins. The APIs and related documentation may be updated at any time. Developer documentation is at developer.qualpay.com.
What industry is Qualpay in?
Qualpay's product category is Payment Processing Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAMABAA, Integrated Payment Processors (PSP/Acquirer), with a secondary code of FSAMACAA, Merchant Payment Gateways (API/Hosted Checkout). Its NAICS code is 52232 and its SIC code is 6199.