CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Braintree (www.braintreepayments.com), the fastest growing payment platform for online and mobile commerce, announced today that it has introduced a new instant approval product and pricing plan, Braintree Instant, to make it even easier for startups to accept payments. Merchants can now start accepting payments within minutes using Braintree, without a waiting period for a merchant account or underwriting approval.
With Braintree Instant, start-ups and developers get even easier access to all the sophisticated payment tools that Braintree’s clients have used to scale their businesses to make tens or hundreds of millions of dollars online and via mobile. Before Braintree Instant, merchants were faced with a choice between one of two options: work with a payment aggregator, such as PayPal or one of their many emulators, or apply for a merchant account. Payment aggregators allow for fast access, but generally only work for the smallest of merchants and introduce the possibility of painful service disruptions due to risk reviews if a merchant’s volume grows. Traditional merchant accounts have been a much better tool for merchants that either have meaningful volume or intend to scale to meaningful volume, but merchant accounts have typically been accompanied by lengthy application processes. Now, with Braintree Instant, merchants get the best of both worlds - they are approved and ready to accept payments immediately but with the peace of mind that they have all the capabilities they need as their business grows.
"Braintree's mobile solution allows us to provide a one-click checkout with the fastest booking process on the market," said Jared Simon, COO and Co-Founder of HotelTonight. “HotelTonight was able to rapidly expand internationally because of the unparalleled suite of tools Braintree offers. It's great that Braintree is making this solution available instantly to all other startups looking to scale with one payment provider."
In addition to immediate approval, Braintree is also introducing simpler pricing and faster funding for start-up merchants. Braintree Instant eliminates monthly minimums and offers a flat 2.9% fee with $.30 per transaction. Merchants will typically receive their funds in two business days - several days faster than what is often offered by many payment aggregators.
“Braintree started with the principle of making payments easily accessible for developers and start-ups, and we've helped thousands of businesses through rapid growth,” said Bill Ready, Braintree’s CEO. “Now, developers and start-ups can begin accepting payments in a matter of minutes, with the confidence that Braintree has them covered with everything they'll need as they grow their business into the next Uber, Airbnb, LivingSocial or AngryBirds. That includes over 130 foreign currencies, recurring billing, faster funding times and next generation mobile capabilities.”
“Figuring out how to get paid is one of the most important and challenging parts of starting a business,” said Alan Herbach, CEO of Strategiz. “With Braintree, I was quickly approved for an account. My developers got immediate access to the APIs, pasted the code right in and we were up and running -- all in a matter of minutes.”
Braintree’s instant account and pricing plan are now available for all US-based merchants. Braintree plans to offer these tools to merchants located outside of the US in the coming months. Merchants who are looking for more information or to apply for a Braintree account can do so here: https://www.braintreepayments.com
About Braintree
Braintree is the fastest growing payment platform for online and mobile businesses, offering all the tools merchants need to accept payments and provide consumers a frictionless experience at checkout. Braintree provides merchants with a secure payment gateway, merchant account, recurring billing and credit card storage, as well as industry-leading customer service and an easy-to-integrate API. Braintree operates internationally, and allows merchants in North America and Europe to accept payments in over 130 currencies. Braintree’s subsidiary, Venmo, offers a digital wallet and person-to-person payment application that extends Braintree’s payment platform to consumers, making it easy for consumers to make payments on mobile devices.
Braintree’s solutions have been proven to scale and support many of the most discerning, high-growth companies on the web, including Rovio/Angry Birds, LivingSocial, Airbnb, Fab.com, OpenTable, Uber, LevelUp and HotelTonight. Founded in 2007, Braintree is now processing more than $5 billion annually from over 3,000 merchants, $1 billion of which is on mobile. Braintree enables single-click, frictionless purchasing at checkout for more than 30 million consumers. Visit Braintree at www.braintreepayments.com and on Twitter @braintree.