Soar Payments
Soar Payments (SoarPay), a Texas-based registered ISO of Commercial Bank of California, provides merchant accounts, payment gateways, and ACH processing exclusively to high-risk and regulated SMB verticals such as firearms, CBD, nutraceuticals, and vaping.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersHouston, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Soar Payments does
Soar Payments, operating under the brand SoarPay and legally structured as AltruPay LLC, is a US-based Independent Sales Organization (ISO) registered with Commercial Bank of California that specializes in merchant accounts for high-risk and regulated industries that mainstream processors (Square, Stripe, PayPal) decline or de-platform. The firm was founded in 2015 (per firmographic data), is headquartered in Houston, Texas, maintains a Dallas-based in-house client support operation, and reportedly serves 1,000+ merchants across 50+ verticals including firearms, CBD, nutraceuticals, vaping, gambling, travel, nutraceuticals, credit repair, telemedicine, and SaaS, among others. The company operates a vertical-focused sub-brand, TacticalPay, dedicated exclusively to the firearms industry and serving 1,000+ merchants in that vertical alone.
The core product stack comprises three interconnected services: (1) High-Risk Merchant Accounts as the primary product, with underwriting decisions typically returned in 48-72 hours; (2) High-Risk Payment Gateways with multi-gateway support across Authorize.net, NMI, and USAePay; and (3) High-Risk ACH Processing for electronic check payment flows. The platform integrates with major e-commerce and back-office systems including Shopify, WooCommerce/WordPress, BigCommerce, 3dCart, Celerant, QuickBooks, Salesforce, Zoho, and InfusionSoft. Security posture includes PCI DSS compliance and built-in Address Verification Service (AVS) and Card Verification Value (CVV) checks at checkout.
The revenue model is transaction-fee based, with quote-based pricing tailored to each merchant's industry and risk profile; rates are not publicly disclosed. Distribution is sales-led and direct: a self-serve online application portal (completion under 10 minutes) supplemented by phone-based inside sales (888-225-9405) and partner referrals. Marketing is primarily digital, with SEO-optimized vertical landing pages, a podcast, and a published book serving as thought-leadership assets. Leadership comprises co-founders Adam Carlson and Rich McIver. The company has not raised disclosed venture funding and remains privately held with no disclosed cap table.
Soar Payments firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Soar Payments
- Legal name
- AltruPay LLC
- Website
- https://SoarPay.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Soar Payments (SoarPay), a Texas-based registered ISO of Commercial Bank of California, provides merchant accounts, payment gateways, and ACH processing exclusively to high-risk and regulated SMB verticals such as firearms, CBD, nutraceuticals, and vaping.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Soar Payments industry classification
Industry- Product category
- High-Risk Merchant Services
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)
- akta.pro primary industry
- High-Risk / Specialty Merchant Acquirers (FSAMABAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Merchant Acquiring & Processing Platforms (BPAMAFAB), Integrated Payment Processors (PSP/Acquirer) (FSAMABAA)
Keywords
Where Soar Payments is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Houston
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Soar Payments business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Merchant Account Services: Payment processing services for businesses in high-risk and regulated industries. Revenue generated through transaction fees and merchant account services.
- Payment Gateway Services: Gateway services connecting merchants to payment processors, supporting multiple platforms and integration options.
- ACH Processing: High-risk ACH processing services for businesses requiring electronic check payment capabilities.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Custom pricing based on industry and risk profile |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Soar Payments product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Soar Payments (SoarPay) provides high-risk merchant accounts, payment gateway services, and ACH processing to businesses in regulated industries such as firearms, CBD, nutraceuticals, vaping, travel, gambling, and nutraceuticals that mainstream processors decline or terminate. As a registered ISO of Commercial Bank of California, the company places merchants with specialized acquiring banks and supports broad e-commerce, CRM, and accounting platform integrations.
Product overview
Soar Payments operates as a multi-product payment processing company serving high-risk and regulated industries. The core offering is the SoarPay platform, which provides three interconnected services: High-Risk Merchant Accounts (the primary product for business payment acceptance), High-Risk Payment Gateways (transaction processing infrastructure), and High Risk ACH Processing (electronic check capabilities). The company also operates TacticalPay as a sub-brand focused exclusively on the firearms industry. The product portfolio spans over 50 high-risk industries including nutraceuticals, CBD, firearms, travel, e-commerce, financial services, and various other regulated sectors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- 1,000+ merchants helped
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Soar Payments
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Soar Payments technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration13 records
Feature2 records
Soar Payments partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- ShopifycoreIntegration partnership enabling SoarPay merchant accounts to connect with Shopify e-commerce platform for online sales processing.
- WooCommercecoreIntegration with WooCommerce/WordPress platform for merchants using this popular e-commerce solution.
- Authorize.netcoreGateway partnership providing Authorize.net as a payment gateway option for SoarPay merchant accounts.
- NMI (Network Merchants Inc.)coreGateway partnership providing NMI as a payment gateway option for merchants.
- USA ePaycoreGateway partnership providing USA ePay as a payment gateway option for merchants.
- BigCommercecoreIntegration partnership enabling SoarPay merchant accounts to connect with BigCommerce e-commerce platform.
- Commercial Bank of CaliforniacoreAltruPay LLC (DBA SoarPay) operates as a registered ISO of Commercial Bank of California, providing the banking relationships needed for merchant account services.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Soar Payments competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- PaymentCloud: Direct competitor providing merchant accounts for high-risk industries, including CBD, firearms, adult, and nutraceutical verticals. Operates a similar ISO-led distribution model with comparable underwriting and approval timeframes.
- HighRiskPay.com: Direct peer targeting SMB merchants in high-risk verticals with merchant account and gateway services. Closely comparable business model, customer base, and underwriting approach.
- Easy Pay Direct: High-risk merchant account provider serving e-commerce and recurring-billing verticals. Overlaps with SoarPay on nutraceuticals, subscription, and continuity/subscription verticals.
- Merchant One: High-risk merchant account and payment gateway provider serving similar verticals to SoarPay (CBD, supplements, adult). Comparable ISO distribution model with similar customer size profile.
- Durango Merchant Services: High-risk merchant account specialist serving firearms, CBD, adult, and nutraceutical verticals. Closely aligned with SoarPay's positioning in regulated and hard-to-place industries.
- Allied Payments: Specializes in high-risk merchant processing for industries like CBD, firearms, and travel. Operates as a registered ISO with similar banking-relationship-dependent model.
- Maverick Processing: High-risk merchant account provider focusing on firearms and other regulated verticals. Direct overlap with SoarPay's firearms payment processing offering and TacticalPay sub-brand.
- National Processing: Provides high-risk and low-risk merchant services with a multi-vertical footprint. Comparable in business model (ISO-led) and customer base (SMB merchants).
Broad incumbents
- Stripe: Mainstream payment processor that explicitly declines most high-risk verticals, creating the demand funnel for SoarPay. Sets the industry standard for developer-friendly payment APIs that SoarPay's gateway partners must match.
- Square (Block): Broad incumbent in SMB card-present processing that excludes most of SoarPay's target verticals. Establishes the ease-of-onboarding benchmark that high-risk operators must close the gap on.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Soar Payments social profiles
Digital presenceSoar Payments compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Soar Payments financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Soar Payments leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Soar Payments subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Soar Payments funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Soar Payments 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 Soar Payments
What does Soar Payments do?
Soar Payments (SoarPay) provides high-risk merchant accounts, payment gateway services, and ACH processing to businesses in regulated industries such as firearms, CBD, nutraceuticals, vaping, travel, gambling, and nutraceuticals that mainstream processors decline or terminate. As a registered ISO of Commercial Bank of California, the company places merchants with specialized acquiring banks and supports broad e-commerce, CRM, and accounting platform integrations.
Is Soar Payments a public or private company?
Soar Payments is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Soar Payments founded?
Soar Payments was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Soar Payments based?
Soar Payments is headquartered in Houston, United States, in the North America region.
How does Soar Payments make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Merchant Account Services are the primary driver. The others are payment Gateway Services and ACH Processing.
Who are Soar Payments's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are PaymentCloud, HighRiskPay.com, Easy Pay Direct, Merchant One, Durango Merchant Services, Allied Payments, Maverick Processing and National Processing. Broad incumbents are Stripe and Square (Block).
Does Soar Payments have an API?
No public API is recorded for Soar Payments.
What industry is Soar Payments in?
Soar Payments's product category is High-Risk Merchant Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAMABAE, High-Risk / Specialty Merchant Acquirers, with a secondary code of BPAMAFAB, Merchant Acquiring & Processing Platforms. Its NAICS code is 522320.