Payload has secured a strategic investment led by Fifth Third as the embedded payments platform scales toward approximately $6 billion in annual payment volume. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
The financing represents Payload’s first significant outside capital since the company was founded in late 2019 by Ryan Rybolt and Ian Halpern.
Payload processed its first payment in January 2020 and handled nearly $500 million of payment volume in May 2026 alone, putting the platform on a monthly run rate exceeding $6 billion annually.
The company also said annual revenue has consistently grown by more than 100%.
Payload built its payment infrastructure from the ground up rather than layering its technology on top of existing systems.
Its platform is designed to let businesses and software providers embed payment processing directly into their products and workflows while maintaining control over integration, compliance and the customer experience.
Payload has gained significant traction in residential real estate, where it has become one of the leading processors of earnest money deposits across the U.S. and Canada.
The company targets an area of real estate transactions that has historically depended heavily on checks and wire transfers despite stringent requirements around timing, security and compliance.
Its customers span independent brokerages, title companies and national real estate platforms.
Payload has since expanded beyond real estate into legal payments, professional services, property management, homebuilding and franchises.
Software companies are also embedding Payload directly into their platforms, creating additional distribution across multiple industries and use cases.
A key component of the company’s technology is a unified API and object model intended to simplify payment integrations without sacrificing more advanced functionality.
Payload incorporates real-time risk monitoring and integrated know-your-customer capabilities directly into its infrastructure.
The company said developers can move from an initial API call to processing live payments within hours while retaining access to enterprise-grade security, event handling and payment customization.
Fifth Third’s investment reflects the bank’s view that business payments are becoming increasingly embedded within the software applications companies already use.
The bank has extensive history in payments, including Fifth Third Processing Solutions and its role in the creation of Vantiv, which grew into one of the world’s largest payment processors.
Payload also has a historical connection to Fifth Third through Rybolt, who began his fintech career at the bank before founding payments company Infintech in 2004.
Halpern previously founded and exited PlacePay, a payment platform serving the multifamily housing and coworking markets.
The two founders launched Payload in 2019 with the goal of addressing shortcomings they had encountered across traditional payment infrastructure.
Payload will use the new capital to expand its engineering and go-to-market teams.
The company also plans to accelerate integrations with next-generation payment rails and broaden its presence across additional software ecosystems and industry verticals.
Fifth Third will serve as a strategic partner as Payload expands relationships with financial institutions, enterprise software platforms and other technology companies across North America.
KEY QUOTES:
“This investment is validation of what we’re building at Payload. A payments infrastructure that actually works for the businesses relying on it every day. I started my career in payments at Fifth Third, left to build Infintech, and launched Payload with Ian with a clear thesis: the way businesses move money was fundamentally broken and that the best fix was to make payments invisible inside the software they already use. Fifth Third understands payments from the inside out, and they share our conviction about where this is all going. This enables us to expand to new markets and industries.”
Ryan Rybolt, CEO And Co-Founder Of Payload
“Most payment integrations force a trade-off: you can have something simple but limited or something capable but complex, but rarely both. We refused that trade-off. The result is a platform where a developer can go from first API call to processing live payments in hours, and get enterprise-grade security, real-time event handling, and the flexibility to create exactly the payment experience their customers expect.”
Ian Halpern, CTO And Co-Founder Of Payload
“Payload has built something rare in the payments space: a platform that is both technically sophisticated and deeply aligned with real business needs. Fifth Third has been in the payments business long enough to know the difference between a product that looks good on paper and one that delivers for customers. Payload is clearly the latter.”
Bridgit Chayt, Head Of Commercial Payments And Treasury Management At Fifth Third
