PridePays

What PridePays does

PridePays is a Seattle-based, privately held payment processor founded in 2019 that operates as a registered Independent Sales Organization (ISO) of PNC Bank, N.A. The company's core product is a payment processing platform through which U.S.-based SMB merchants route their existing credit card processing fees — at the same rates they were paying their previous processor — into donations to LGBTQ+ nonprofit causes. Merchants select from a directory of more than 1,200 pre-approved 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), PAC, and other LGBTQ+ organizations, and contributions are calculated and distributed monthly based on sales volume. The platform is integrated with the major payment hardware families used by U.S. SMBs — Clover/Fiserv, Verifone, Ingenico, PAX, Dejavoo, and Castles — and supports e-commerce gateways including Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Lightspeed, Authorize.net, NMI, Payeezy, and USAePay, enabling seamless migration of merchants' existing equipment.

PridePays generates revenue from the spread between wholesale card-processing costs and merchant processing rates — a standard ISO economics model — and states that profits are redirected to merchant-selected causes rather than distributed to shareholders. The company explicitly notes it has no shareholders or investors motivated by earnings and no commission sales agents. Customer segments include LGBTQ+-supporting SMB merchants across food and beverage, retail, hospitality, and services; the LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations that receive funding; and "conscious consumers" who use the public PridePays merchant map to discover participating businesses. Pricing is positioned as free for merchants, with no terms, cancellation fees, or hidden charges.

Go-to-market is community-led: PridePays relies on a volunteer ambassador program, merchant and cause referral forms, organic social media contests, and memberships in the NGLCC, GSBA, and Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The team remains small at 1-10 employees, and the company has not disclosed any external funding rounds, revenue, transaction volume, or headcount growth metrics in available source material.

Name

PridePays

Legal name

PridePays

Website

https://pridepays.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

PridePays is a Seattle-based payment processor (ISO of PNC Bank) that enables U.S. SMB merchants to redirect their existing credit card processing fees to a directory of 1,200+ LGBTQ+ nonprofit causes, supported by integrations with Clover, Verifone, Ingenico, PAX, Shopify, and other major hardware and gateway vendors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Processing Services

akta.pro primary industry

Merchant Acquiring Banks & ISO/MSP Acquirers (FSAMABAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Card-Present Acquirers (Retail & POS Focus) (FSAMABAC), EMV Chip, Magstripe & PIN Debit Acceptance (FSAMADAG)

Keywords

• Payment processing services
• Merchant services
• LGBTQ+ charitable giving
• Card acceptance solutions
• Point of sale integrations

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Payment Processing Fees: PridePays generates revenue by collecting payment processing fees from merchants. Rather than retaining all profits, the company donates these profits to merchant-selected LGBTQ+ causes. The business model relies on the processing fees merchants were already paying to their previous providers - PridePays essentially captures this fee revenue while redirecting profits to charity.
2. Merchant Fee Redirection: Merchants pay the same fees they were paying to previous processors. PridePays takes over the merchant account and redirects the profits (difference between wholesale processing costs and merchant fees) to selected causes. This creates a self-sustaining model where operational costs are covered while maximizing charitable impact.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

PridePays operates a payment processing platform for U.S. merchants, enabling credit and debit card acceptance through a broad range of POS hardware (Clover, Verifone, Ingenico, PAX, Dejavoo, Poynt) and software integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, Authorize.net, QuickBooks). A defined portion of every transaction's processing fee is automatically donated to an approved LGBTQ+ cause selected by the merchant, turning routine merchant processing into recurring charitable giving.

Product overview

PridePays is a social enterprise payment processing platform that enables merchants to fund LGBTQ+ causes through their existing credit card processing fees at no additional cost. The core platform processes payments and donates profits to merchant-selected causes. PridePays offers a comprehensive ecosystem of supported payment hardware including Clover POS systems (Mini, Solo, Station Duo, Flex, Go), Verifone terminals (V200, V400, P200, P400, T650, M440, M400), Ingenico terminals (Desk, Moby, Move, and Lane series), and PAX terminals. The platform also includes a merchant dashboard, cause management for non-profits, an ambassador program for community outreach, and a merchant referral system. Merchants can select from over 1,200 pre-approved LGBTQ+ causes, and contributions are distributed monthly or quarterly based on sales volume.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• PridePays Merchant Payment Processing

Quantifiable outcome

• Unlimited funding potential - no cap on amount a cause can receive from PridePays
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration22 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Clover (Fiserv)coreTechnology or IntegrationPridePays is a certified Clover provider offering the complete Clover family of POS systems including Mini, Solo, Station Duo, Flex, and Go. PridePays provides free or discounted Clover equipment during promotional periods. Integration enables seamless payment processing with cause-donation capabilities.
• VerifonecoreTechnology or IntegrationPridePays supports the entire Verifone product family including V200, V400, P200, P400, T650, M400, M440 terminals. Verifone is described as a pioneer in payment hardware. Partnership enables PridePays to offer world-class equipment with added cause-donation benefits.
• IngenicocoreTechnology or IntegrationPridePays supports the entire Ingenico family of equipment including Desk/5000, Desk/3500, Desk/1500, Desk/1200, Moby/5500, Move/5000, Move/3500, Move/2500, Lane/8000, Lane/7000, Lane/5000, Lane/3000. Full integration enables merchant payment processing with cause-donation features.
• PAX TechnologycoreTechnology or IntegrationPridePays supports PAX payment terminals including A35, A50, A77, A80, A800, A910, A920, A920Pro, A930 models. Full product line support with quick reference guides for merchant operations.
• NGLCC (National LGBT Chamber of Commerce)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerPridePays is a proud member of NGLCC, the largest LGBTQ business organization in the world. Membership provides credibility, networking opportunities, and alignment with LGBTQ+ business community.
• GSBA (Greater Seattle Business Association)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerPridePays is a proud member of GSBA, the Seattle-based LGBTQ+ and allied business association. Membership demonstrates commitment to LGBTQ+ business community in the Seattle region.
• Seattle Chamber of CommercecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPridePays is a proud member of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Featured in member spotlight for community impact. Membership provides regional business networking and credibility.
• PNC Bank, N.A.coreOthersPridePays is a registered Independent Sales Organization (ISO) of PNC Bank, N.A., headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. PNC Bank provides the banking infrastructure and sponsor bank relationship required for payment processing operations.
• ShopifysupportingTechnology or IntegrationE-commerce integration with Shopify platform enabling online merchants to process payments through PridePays and contribute to selected causes.
• WooCommercesupportingTechnology or IntegrationE-commerce integration with WooCommerce enabling WordPress-based online merchants to process payments through PridePays.
• Authorize.netsupportingTechnology or IntegrationPayment gateway integration with Authorize.net for e-commerce merchants seeking to support LGBTQ+ causes through PridePays.
• DejavoosupportingTechnology or IntegrationPayment terminal support through Dejavoo hardware. Partnership enables additional terminal options for PridePays merchants.
• Castles TechnologysupportingTechnology or IntegrationPayment hardware support through Castles Technology. Partnership expands available terminal options for PridePays merchants.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Stax Payments: Subscription-based SMB payment processor targeting ISOs, agents, and small-to-mid merchants. Shares PridePays' positioning as a merchant-acquirer targeting SMBs with differentiated pricing and integrated POS software.
• Toast: Restaurant-focused payment processor and POS platform serving SMB food-and-drink merchants. Overlaps directly with PridePays' strong food-and-drink merchant mix (e.g., Woodland Coffee, bars, restaurants).
• Helcim: SMB-focused payment processor and acquirer offering transparent interchange-plus pricing to merchants. Like PridePays, Helcim serves small US-based merchants looking for an alternative to legacy processors with a values-driven brand position.
• PaymentDepot: SMB payment processor offering interchange-plus pricing and equipment support. Operates in the same SMB merchant-acquiring niche as PridePays with comparable focus on rate transparency and equipment bundling.

Broad incumbents

• Stripe: Major internet-native payment processor with SMB and platform reach. Although more developer-leaning, Stripe overlaps with PridePays' e-commerce integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Authorize.net gateway-style flows).
• PayPal: Established consumer and SMB payment processor with charity/cause-program capabilities. Competes broadly for e-commerce and in-person payments that PridePays targets, and could trivially build its own cause-funding features.
• Square (Block): Dominant SMB payment processor and acquirer with broad hardware and software ecosystem. Competes with PridePays for the same SMB merchant base but at vastly greater scale, with the resources to bundle cause-marketing features.
• Clover (Fiserv): Large incumbent POS hardware and software provider whose full Clover product line is distributed via PridePays. Comparable as a payments platform with terminal hardware/software ecosystem serving SMB merchants.

Others

• Authorize.net: Established payment gateway integrated with PridePays for e-commerce merchants. Comparable as payment-infrastructure technology rather than as a direct merchant-facing competitor.
• Network Merchants Inc. (NMI): Payment gateway and platform provider integrated with PridePays via ISO/payfac-style flows. Comparable as payment infrastructure that ISOs and processors leverage, rather than as a direct SMB-facing competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PridePays
• Facebookfacebook.com/PridePays
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pridepays

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 PridePays