Balanced
Balanced is a San Francisco-based payment infrastructure provider, founded in 2010, that enables online marketplaces to charge cards, escrow funds, deposit via ACH, and collect platform fees.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Balanced does
Balanced is a payment infrastructure provider headquartered in San Francisco, founded in 2010 to serve online marketplaces. The company's product is a payment system that enables marketplaces to charge credit and debit cards, escrow funds, deposit via ACH direct transfer, and collect platform fees — functionality that bundles several payment primitives typically assembled piecemeal by marketplace operators. The offering is positioned for marketplace economics, where multi-party flows (buyer payout, seller receipt, platform fee) and trust mechanisms (escrow) are central to operations.
The company operates as a private, for-profit entity with a headcount of 11–50 employees. Its capital structure reflects early-stage venture backing: total disclosed funding of approximately $3.55M was raised across multiple rounds from 2011 through 2014, including a $2,000,000 round in April 2013 led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Base Ventures, Collaborative Fund, QueensBridge Venture Partners, SV Angel, and Y Combinator, as well as a prior $1,400,000 round from SV Angel in November 2012. Y Combinator participation (March 2011) provided early accelerator validation and access to the startup ecosystem.
The business model is consistent with API-driven payments infrastructure: monetization typically derives from transaction-based take-rates on payment volume processed through the platform, though no pricing details, customer logos, GMV figures, or revenue disclosures are available in the input data. No management team, partnership, geographic, or product-expansion details beyond the core marketplace-payments proposition are disclosed, leaving significant gaps in the available company intelligence.
Balanced firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Balanced
- Website
- https://balancedpayments.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Balanced is a San Francisco-based payment infrastructure provider, founded in 2010, that enables online marketplaces to charge cards, escrow funds, deposit via ACH, and collect platform fees.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Balanced industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payment Processing
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232), Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure (FSAGABAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Marketplace & Platform Payments (Split Payments, Sub-merchants) (FSAMACAG)
Keywords
Where Balanced is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Balanced business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Balanced product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Balanced operates a payment processing system built for online marketplaces. The platform enables marketplace operators to charge customer credit cards, hold funds in escrow, disburse proceeds to sellers via ACH direct deposit, and collect the marketplace's own transaction fees, all from a single integrated product.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Balanced Payments
Companies that use Balanced
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Balanced technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Balanced partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves5 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Balanced competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Stripe: Stripe Connect is the dominant market-place/split-payment infrastructure for online platforms. Comparable because it solves the same multi-party payout problem Balanced targets, though Stripe serves a much broader customer base across all payment types.
- PayPal: PayPal Marketplaces (formerly PayPal Adaptive Payments) provides split payments and escrow-like flows for platforms. Comparable as a direct alternative for marketplace operators evaluating payment orchestration providers.
- WePay (Chase): WePay, now part of JPMorgan Chase, offers embedded payments for software platforms and marketplaces. Comparable as a platform-integrated payments provider with built-in split-payment and risk management.
- Adyen: Adyen is a global full-stack payments processor serving large marketplaces and platforms. Comparable for any enterprise marketplace evaluating an end-to-end acquiring + payout alternative to a specialist like Balanced.
- Checkout.com: Checkout.com provides acquiring and orchestration for marketplaces and digital platforms globally. Comparable as a higher-end, well-funded alternative competing for the same mid-market and enterprise marketplace accounts.
Direct peers
- Mangopay: Mangopay is a payments platform purpose-built for marketplaces and crowdfunding platforms, offering escrow, multi-party payouts, and KYC. Highly comparable as a direct marketplace-payments specialist, primarily serving European platforms.
- Dwolla: Dwolla provides ACH-based bank transfer APIs and is used by platforms that need low-cost direct-deposit and payout rails. Comparable because it addresses the same ACH-first marketplace disbursement use case Balanced targets.
Emerging players
- Sila (payments): Sila provides payment facilitation and developer-friendly APIs aimed at platforms and marketplaces. Comparable as an emerging API-first payments infrastructure player that overlaps with Balanced's integration style.
- Tilled: Tilled is a PayFac-as-a-Service that enables SaaS platforms and marketplaces to embed payments. Comparable as a modern, API-based payment facilitation infrastructure targeted at software-led marketplaces.
Others
- Basis Theory: Basis Theory provides tokenization and payments infrastructure used by platforms that need to handle sensitive card and bank data — an enabling layer for marketplace payments stacks that includes providers like Balanced.
Market position
Strengths3 records
Weaknesses3 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights4 records
Customer concentration
Balanced social profiles
Digital presenceBalanced financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Balanced leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Balanced funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds7 records
Investors9 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Balanced M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments1 record
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Balanced
What does Balanced do?
Balanced operates a payment processing system built for online marketplaces. The platform enables marketplace operators to charge customer credit cards, hold funds in escrow, disburse proceeds to sellers via ACH direct deposit, and collect the marketplace's own transaction fees, all from a single integrated product.
Is Balanced a public or private company?
Balanced is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Balanced founded?
Balanced was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Balanced based?
Balanced is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Balanced's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Stripe, PayPal, WePay (Chase), Adyen and Checkout.com. Direct peers are Mangopay and Dwolla. Emerging players are Sila (payments) and Tilled. Basis Theory is listed as an others.
Does Balanced have an API?
No public API is recorded for Balanced.
What industry is Balanced in?
Balanced's product category is Payment Processing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGABAE, Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure, with a secondary code of FSAMACAG, Marketplace & Platform Payments (Split Payments, Sub-merchants). Its NAICS code is 52232.