What Encoded does

Encoded Ltd is a privately held UK payment service provider, founded in 2001 and headquartered in Gatwick, that delivers an omnichannel PCI DSS Level 1 compliant payment platform to UK enterprises and contact centres. The company's product surface centres on a vendor-agnostic Payment Gateway that bridges merchants, acquirers, and banks across web, phone, and IVR channels, with an orchestration layer that manages intelligent routing, least-cost acquiring, and multi-acquirer tokenisation. Surrounding the gateway is a set of integrated vertical products — IVR Payments, Agent Assisted Payments, PayByLink, eCommerce Payments, Merchant Accounts, Multi-Currency Pricing, Fraud Prevention, SMS Chat, and the recently added Visa-powered Click to Pay — designed to remove card data from agent environments, reduce PCI scope, and support 24/7 self-service across contact-centre, e-commerce, and recurring-billing workflows.

Encoded sells primarily through UK-based enterprise field sales and inside sales, supported by channel partners, BPOs, and systems integrators. Revenue is predominantly transactional — per-transaction gateway and orchestration fees, IVR pricing on successfully processed requests, and merchant account interchange — supplemented by professional services and consulting. Named enterprise customers span utilities (Severn Trent Water, Shell Energy), retail (BMW, Samsung, Lush, Wine Society, Park Group), telecommunications (Jersey Telecom), financial services (One Savings Bank, Canada Life), property management (First Port), BPO (Sigma Connected), and insurance (British Friendly, Health-on-line), among others. The company reports supporting 30 million customers and 10 million calls annually, automating £60 million of secure payments without operator intervention.

Encoded operates with 11–50 employees, has not raised external equity, and is founder/management-owned. Strategic activity in 2024–2026 has focused on extending the platform's payment-method coverage (Click to Pay, Bitcoin via Musqet), opening a Merchant Account line for businesses of all sizes, and taking a minority investment position in Neurometric AI's AI-agent token-engineering platform. The operating geography remains predominantly UK, with limited disclosed international expansion despite MCP and orchestration capabilities supporting cross-border transactions.

Name

Encoded

Legal name

Encoded Ltd

Website

https://encoded.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Encoded Ltd is a UK-based, PCI DSS Level 1 payment service provider that sells an omnichannel payment gateway and orchestration platform — including IVR, agent-assisted, eCommerce, and Click-to-Pay products — to enterprise contact centres, utilities, retailers, financial services firms, and BPOs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Gateway & Orchestration

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320)

akta.pro primary industry

Merchant Payment Gateways (API/Hosted Checkout) (FSAMACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Smart Routing, Cascading & Payment Optimization (FSAMACAJ), Integrated Payment Processors (PSP/Acquirer) (FSAMABAA), Payment Gateways & API Connectivity (FSAGABAB), Payment Processing for Collections (Lockbox, ACH, Card, IVR) (FSAKAJAJ)

Keywords

• Payment gateway services
• PCI compliance solutions
• IVR payment processing
• Contact centre payments
• Payment orchestration platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Gatwick

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Gateway and Payment Orchestration Services: Encoded charges merchants for access to its payment gateway and orchestration platform, likely on a per-transaction or subscription basis tied to transaction volumes and the number of MIDs/routing rules managed.
2. IVR, Agent Assisted, and MOTO Payment Processing: Fees for processing card payments across contact centre channels — IVR self-service, agent-assisted, and PayByLink MOTO flows — with transaction-based pricing. Some IVR providers charge only for successfully processed requests.
3. eCommerce and Checkout Solutions: Revenue from online payment processing via the gateway, including multi-currency pricing (MCP), tokenisation for recurring payments, and Click to Pay integration.
4. Merchant Accounts: Encoded offers its own merchant accounts with MID provisioning, providing easy account set-up and unlimited access to the Encoded Payment Gateway and eCommerce suite. Revenue generated through merchant services fees and interchange/transaction charges.
5. Professional Services and Consulting: On-site consultants advise on best results, attend KPI review meetings, and provide implementation support. Revenue from consulting engagements alongside product subscriptions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Encoded is a Level 1 PCI DSS accredited payment service provider that sells an omnichannel payment platform combining a payment gateway and payment orchestration layer. Its core products — Gateway Services, IVR Payments, Agent Assisted Payments, PayByLink, eCommerce Payments, Merchant Accounts, Payment Orchestration, and SMS Chat — let contact centres, utilities, financial services, and online retailers take secure card payments across web, phone, IVR, agent-assisted and SMS channels with tokenisation, intelligent routing, and multi-acquirer support.

Product overview

Encoded is a PCI DSS compliant payment service provider offering an omnichannel payment platform with gateway services at its core. The portfolio includes IVR Payments (self-service telephone payments), PayByLink (secure payment links), Agent Assisted Payments (contact centre solutions), eCommerce Payments (online checkout), and SMS Chat (messaging engagement). These integrate with a Payment Orchestration layer that manages routing across multiple acquirers. Additional modules include Multi-Currency Pricing for international sales, Fraud Prevention Platform for security, and Merchant Accounts. The platform is designed for contact centres and enterprises requiring PCI compliance across web, phone, and mobile channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Gateway Services Encoded's payment gateway that bridges merchants, acquirers and banks across all payment channels (web, phone, IVR), managing authorisation, routing and settlement of card payments.
• IVR Payments Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solution that lets callers enter card data via touch tones for self-service 24/7 credit and debit card payments without involving an agent, built on PCI DSS compliant cloud technology.
• Agent Assisted Payments Contact centre solution that lets agents process card payments while customers enter their own details on their phone's touch-tone keypad, keeping the agent off PCI DSS scope throughout the call.
• PayByLink Service that issues a one-time-use short code link via SMS or email directing customers to a secure payment form, designed for large corporates with contact centre operations.
• eCommerce Payments Online payment solution that lets merchants securely accept card and digital wallet payments through their websites and mobile, with bespoke checkout pages matched to each merchant's brand design.
• Payment Orchestration Orchestration layer above the gateway that manages how transactions are routed and processed across multiple acquirers, payment methods and gateways, enabling intelligent routing, least-cost acquiring, multi-MID management and fallback logic.
• Merchant Accounts Encoded-branded merchant accounts with MID provisioning, easy account set-up, and unlimited access to Encoded's Payment Gateway and eCommerce suite, offered with a guaranteed 10% saving on existing card processing fees.
• SMS Chat Secure messaging and customer engagement platform supporting SMS, voice and Facebook Messenger conversations with AI-powered chatbot handling, integrated with Encoded's payment products so payments can be taken via SMS using stored cards under PCI DSS and GDPR compliance.
• Click to Pay Digital one-click checkout solution powered by Visa, built on EMVCo global standards and integrated into Encoded's Gateway and eCommerce suite, allowing customers to pay online without re-entering card details via tokenisation, biometric verification and device binding.

Quantifiable outcome

• Supports 30 million customers and 10 million calls globally with £60 million of automated secure payments
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability4 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• VisacoreTechnology or IntegrationEncoded partnered with Visa to support Click to Pay — an EMVCo-based digital checkout standard enabling one-click, PAN-free payments. Encoded Click to Pay, powered by Visa, is seamlessly integrated into Encoded's Gateway and eCommerce suite. This partnership provides Encoded merchants with a universally recognisable, secure checkout button aligned with global EMVCo standards.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Spreedly: Spreedly is a payment orchestration platform offering vaulting, multi-acquirer routing, and a single API for global payment method access. Closely comparable to Encoded's gateway and orchestration layer, though focused more on global digital merchants than UK contact centres.
• Gr4vy: Gr4vy is a cloud-native payment orchestration provider enabling merchants to route transactions across multiple processors via a single API. Comparable to Encoded's orchestration capabilities but aimed at enterprise eCommerce and digital-goods merchants rather than IVR/contact centre flows.
• Primer: Primer offers a unified payment infrastructure platform with smart routing, multi-acquirer orchestration, and a workflow builder. Directly comparable to Encoded's orchestration product for merchants seeking vendor-agnostic routing and optimisation.
• PCI Pal: PCI Pal specialises in PCI DSS compliant payment solutions for contact centres, including IVR, agent-assisted, and digital payment channels. Highly comparable to Encoded's contact centre payments portfolio and serves a similar UK enterprise customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Adyen: Adyen is a global payments platform offering gateway, acquiring, and orchestration-style processing to large enterprises. Overlaps with Encoded on gateway and intelligent routing but with a much broader geographic and product footprint including direct acquiring.
• Checkout.com: Checkout.com is a global payment processor offering unified acquiring, gateway, and orchestration services to enterprises. Competes with Encoded on gateway and routing functionality for enterprise eCommerce and omnichannel merchants.
• Worldpay: Worldpay is a large merchant acquirer and gateway provider with omnichannel payment solutions serving global enterprises. Directly comparable on enterprise gateway and IVR/contact centre offerings, though as a much broader full-stack incumbent.
• Stripe: Stripe is a global payment gateway and processing platform widely used by online and omnichannel merchants. Comparable to Encoded on gateway, tokenisation, and orchestration features, though oriented primarily toward developer-led digital commerce.
• Verifone: Verifone is a global provider of payment hardware, gateway, and omnichannel commerce solutions serving large enterprises. Overlaps with Encoded on payment gateway and omnichannel acceptance, including in-store and contact centre environments.

Emerging players

• Sila (formerly TokenEx): Sila's former TokenEx business is a cloud tokenisation and payment integration platform that reduces PCI scope for merchants. Comparable to Encoded's token vault capability but focused on tokenisation rather than full omnichannel orchestration.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/encodedivr

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Encoded