IRIS CRM

What IRIS CRM does

IRIS CRM, originally an independent merchant CRM, was acquired by NMI (Network Merchants Inc.) and rebranded as Merchant Central. It now operates as the vertically-specialized payments CRM and merchant management product within NMI's broader payments portfolio. The platform serves Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), banks, software/SaaS companies, and payment facilitators that need to manage the full merchant lifecycle — from first contact through underwriting, boarding, ongoing support, residuals, and embedded lending.

The product is cloud-based and built as a unified platform with modular deployment. Core technology components include Pipeline Management (with built-in dialer and configurable funnel metrics), Sign-Up & Onboarding (with embedded web forms, digital agreements and eSign), Merchant Underwriting (comprising ScanX, which runs 100+ automated KYC/KYB/AML risk checks; MonitorX for continuous risk monitoring; and Scorecard Insights for auto-decision optimization), multi-processor Merchant Boarding across 10+ processor integrations, Reporting & Insights, automated Residuals Management, an integrated Helpdesk, and Business Capital (white-label embedded lending powered by Parafin). The architecture supports either full-platform deployment or modular adoption alongside existing systems.

The business model combines SaaS subscription fees (annual, quote-based, not publicly disclosed) for platform access with payment gateway integration revenue routed through NMI's payment gateway and revenue-share from embedded lending via the Parafin partnership. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales augmented by ISO channel partners and inside sales for mid-market modular deals. The platform is certified and available across the US, UK, EU (including Republic of Ireland) and a broad set of APAC and other international markets, though disclosed customer logos are limited (247Payments, Next Choice) and no revenue figures are available in the source material.

Name

IRIS CRM

Legal name

Network Merchants Ltd.

Website

https://iriscrm.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Merchant Central (formerly IRIS CRM) is a cloud-based payments CRM and merchant lifecycle platform built for ISOs, banks, software companies, and payment facilitators, offering underwriting, boarding, residuals, and embedded lending.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payments CRM Software

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Customer Success & Account Management CRM (HDAEAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Customer Service, Support & Contact Center CRM (HDAEAFAC)

Keywords

• Payments CRM software
• Merchant lifecycle management
• Merchant underwriting platform
• ISO residual management
• Payment facilitator onboarding

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Platform/SaaS Fees: Subscription or usage-based fees for access to Merchant Central CRM platform, including pipeline management, onboarding, underwriting, reporting, and residual management modules.
2. Payment Gateway Integration: Revenue generated through NMI's integrated payment gateway platform that Merchant Central connects to for merchant processing.
3. Embedded Lending Revenue Share: Revenue from Business Capital embedded lending feature, where partners can create additional value for merchants while unlocking new revenue streams.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

IRIS CRM (rebranded as Merchant Central by NMI) is a cloud-based payments CRM platform that manages the entire merchant lifecycle for ISOs, banks, software providers, and payment facilitators. It combines pipeline management, automated sign-up and onboarding, KYC/KYB underwriting (ScanX, MonitorX, Scorecard Insights), multi-processor boarding, residuals and payout tracking, reporting and insights, helpdesk/merchant support, and embedded business capital (lending) within a single configurable environment that integrates with NMI's payment gateway.

Product overview

IRIS CRM, now rebranded as Merchant Central by NMI, is a unified payments CRM and merchant management platform designed for Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), banks, payment facilitators, and software/SaaS companies. The platform operates as a single unified system with modular components: the core Merchant Central platform combines pipeline management, sign-up and onboarding, merchant underwriting (via ScanX, MonitorX, and Scorecard Insights), merchant boarding across 10+ processors, real-time reporting and insights, residuals management, integrated helpdesk and merchant support, and Business Capital (powered by Parafin). Individual modules can be deployed independently or together as a full CRM platform. The product portfolio also includes the broader NMI Payments all-in-one payments platform and the Payment Gateway, with a Fraud Defense Suite for fraud prevention. Merchant Central is available in unified or modular deployment models.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ScanX: Automated risk and compliance system that performs over 100 risk checks in minutes using KYC, KYB and AML data to generate risk-scored decisions.
• MonitorX
• Scorecard Insights

Products and services

• Merchant Central (formerly IRIS CRM)

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces 'not in good order' applications by as much as 30%
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ParafincoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParafin provides the underlying infrastructure for Merchant Central's Business Capital feature, handling underwriting, funding and servicing end-to-end. This partnership enables partners to offer white-label embedded lending with pre-approved loan offers for eligible merchants directly within the Merchant Portal, creating additional value and new revenue streams without added operational complexity.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• HubSpot: HubSpot is a leading CRM platform with sales, marketing, and service hubs. It competes for mid-market and SMB customers evaluating unified CRM stacks, and increasingly targets verticals including financial services, posing a horizontal competitive threat to Merchant Central.
• Salesforce: Salesforce is the dominant horizontal CRM incumbent. While not payments-specific, its Financial Services Cloud and AppExchange ecosystem overlap with Merchant Central's CRM-and-onboarding capabilities, and it competes for the same ISO/bank enterprise buyer.
• Zoho CRM: Zoho CRM is a broad horizontal CRM with sales pipeline, helpdesk, and workflow automation features. It competes with Merchant Central for cost-sensitive mid-market customers seeking unified CRM and helpdesk capabilities.

Emerging players

• MX Technologies: MX Technologies provides financial-data APIs and consumer/money-management platforms used by banks and fintechs. It overlaps with Merchant Central's KYC/KYB/AML data enrichment for merchant underwriting and portfolio analytics.
• Dwolla: Dwolla provides ACH payment APIs and bank-account verification infrastructure for fintechs and software platforms. Its KYC/KYB compliance tooling overlaps with portions of Merchant Central's ScanX underwriting module.
• Sila (payments-as-a-service): Sila provides banking and payment APIs for software companies, including KYC/KYB onboarding. Its developer-first approach to merchant onboarding and underwriting represents an emerging alternative to Merchant Central's payment-facilitator module.

Direct peers

• Finix: Finix is a payments infrastructure provider enabling software companies to monetize payments. Its sub-merchant onboarding, underwriting, and risk-management capabilities are directly comparable to Merchant Central's payment-facilitator feature set.
• Stax Payments: Stax Payments (formerly Fattmerchant) is a payment-processing platform targeting ISOs and SaaS-reseller partners with subscription-based pricing. Its ISO-focused distribution model and merchant-management tooling overlap with Merchant Central's ISO and channel-partner GTM.
• Payrix: Payrix provides embedded payments infrastructure for software platforms, including sub-merchant onboarding, underwriting, and risk management. It directly overlaps with Merchant Central's payment-facilitator and SaaS-platform modules, including merchant lifecycle tooling.
• Pipedrive: Pipedrive is a sales-pipeline CRM focused on deal management and pipeline visibility. Its core use case (structured pipeline from lead-to-close with configurable metrics) directly overlaps with Merchant Central's Pipeline Management module for mid-market sales teams.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NMIpayments
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCNQ7nY9CtQLBP2qxN55SUZA
• Facebookfacebook.com/NMIpayments
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/NMIpayments
• Instagraminstagram.com/NMIpayments

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 IRIS CRM