WePay

WePay

Company type	Private
Industry	Digital payments
Founded	January 1, 2008 (2008-01-01) in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Founder	Rich Aberman, Bill Clerico
Headquarters	Redwood City, California , United States
Area served	United States, Canada, United Kingdom
Key people	Rich Aberman (co-founder), Bill Clerico (co-founder)
Products	Integrated payment solutions, APIs, fraud detection and risk management services
Number of employees	180+
Parent	JPMorgan Chase

WePay is a U.S.-based digital payment service provider that delivers integrated and customizable payment solutions through APIs tailored for platform businesses, including crowdfunding platforms, marketplaces, and software providers for small enterprises. The company also equips its partners with advanced fraud detection and risk management services.

History

Established in 2008 in Boston, Massachusetts by Rich Aberman and Bill Clerico, WePay is now headquartered in Redwood City, California. The idea originated when Aberman faced challenges collecting $4,200 from 14 friends for his brother’s bachelor party using a mix of cash, checks, and PayPal transactions. This experience highlighted the need for a simpler group payment method. Collaborating with Clerico, he set out to create a solution that addressed the shortcomings found in PayPal’s system.

After being accepted into Y Combinator, the founders moved their operations to Silicon Valley. Early financial support came from notable investors such as Max Levchin (cofounder of PayPal), angel investor Ron Conway, and venture capital firms August Capital and Highland Capital Partners, which collectively invested more than $9 million by 2010. Other prominent backers include Steve Chen (YouTube cofounder), Eric Dunn (former CTO of Intuit), Orlando Ramos (founder of Cyberpower Depot), and entrepreneur Dave McClure.

In May 2011, Aberman and Clerico were honored as leading young technology entrepreneurs by Bloomberg Businessweek. By 2014, WePay phased out its donation processing service to focus on its primary offerings. The following year, it secured $40 million in funding from FTV Capital and Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten to support its global growth. In October 2017, JPMorgan Chase acquired WePay for an amount exceeding $220 million.

Services

Operating as a privately owned firm, WePay provides payment processing functionalities to business platforms and generates income through transaction fees. Its APIs facilitate seamless platform payments.

The company’s fraud prevention combines its own proprietary risk management system with external vendors. It utilizes a variety of data inputs—such as social network connections—and applies machine learning techniques to detect fraudulent activities. According to cofounder Aberman, the platform verifies users’ real-world identities by analyzing their online presence.

Growth

In early 2015, WePay extended its offerings to Canadian businesses and expanded into the United Kingdom market in 2016.

That same year, the Silicon Valley Business Journal listed WePay among the top 500 fastest-growing private startups, reporting growth exceeding 1500% compared to the previous year. In September 2011, the company had a workforce of 30 employees; by October of that year, this number had increased by 20%. Cofounder Clerico highlighted that billions of dollars are processed weekly through WePay’s platform.

Following a $40 million Series D funding round in 2015, WePay employed over 100 staff members with plans to double that number within the next 18 months. Presently, the company has more than 180 employees across locations in California, Rhode Island, and the United Kingdom. It has earned accolades as one of Silicon Valley’s most desirable workplaces.

Partnerships

By 2015, WePay was supporting more than 1,000 enterprises and nonprofit organizations. The firm collaborated with Apple Pay and Android Pay, allowing users to complete payments using these digital wallets.

Movements

In 2010, the founders of WePay made a striking statement at PayPal's developer conference by releasing a 600-pound ice block containing cash, criticizing PayPal's practice of freezing funds and advocating for alternative payment solutions.

During 2011, WePay processed donations for the Occupy Wall Street movement, witnessing a significant increase in payment volume. Dominic Basulto from The Washington Post referred to WePay as the "de facto official channel" for contributing to the movement while circumventing traditional financial institutions. By the end of that year, more than 8,000 contributors from 37 countries had donated $325,000 through nearly 300 Occupy-related accounts promoted via social media platforms.

WePay has also played a role in supporting various disaster relief and humanitarian fundraising efforts, including campaigns for Hurricane Sandy, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and the Orlando nightclub shooting. Nevertheless, in 2017, the company refused to process upwards of $24,000 in donations intended for legal cannabis farmers impacted by the October 2017 Northern California wildfires.