Link raises $30M to help merchants accept direct bank payments

Kyle Wiggers, TechCrunch, 19 January 2023

People are addicted to credit cards — and it’s no wonder, given the lucrative rewards that many of them offer. But for merchants, credit cards tend to be less appealing. That’s because they’re on the hook for interchange fees, or transaction fees a merchant’s bank must pay whenever a customer uses a card to make a purchase. Some interchange fees can exceed 3%.

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Link claims to be one of the first companies in the U.S. to enable customers to make online payments using their bank accounts. Since its founding, it’s attracted interest from investors including Valar Ventures, Tiger Global, Amplo, Pareto Holdings, Quiet Capital and Shutterstock co-founder and CEO Jon Oringer. Valar led a $20 million Series A funding round in Link while Tiger led a $10 million seed round; to date, Link has raised $30 million.