Tapaya
Tapaya is a Czech startup that raised โฌ1M pre-seed in 2026 to build embedded in-person payment infrastructure. The platform allows banks, fintechs and vertical software to integrate payment acceptance directly into their applications, reducing dependency on dedicated physical terminals.
Europe's most interesting startup stories. Every week.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Podcast Episode
๐๏ธ Deep Dive
Daily News โ May 1, 2026
Listen to the episodeAbout Tapaya
Tapaya is a Czech fintech infrastructure startup that raised โฌ1M in a pre-seed round in 2026, backed by Passion Capital, Depo Ventures and BADideas.fund. The company develops in-person payment infrastructure that can be embedded directly into applications of banks, fintechs and vertical software platforms, without requiring dedicated hardware. The initial focus is on CEE and Baltic markets. Tapaya's thesis is that the proliferation of vertical software in sectors such as retail, hospitality and logistics creates an opportunity for embedded payment solutions that integrate into existing operator workflows, eliminating friction between business management software and payment acceptance.
The Story
Founded in July 2025 in Prague by Laura ฤorฤovรก, Roman Kuchaลรญk and Petr Zahradnรญk โ three co-founders who had previously worked together building and certifying payment products. The idea emerged from direct experience with traditional POS terminals at festivals and large events, where the lack of fast and reliable payment options creates real operational problems. Selected for the Mastercard Lighthouse Programme and winner of the Digital category at Startup Awards Slovakia 2025.
How Tapaya works
Business Model
SDK and API that aggregate compliance, processor integrations and card scheme connections into a single tool, enabling banks, fintechs and software platforms to embed in-person payment acceptance directly into their apps on Android, iOS and other commercial devices โ without dedicated hardware. Integration timelines reduce from months or years to days.
Revenue Model
Transaction fees or licensing fees charged to partners (banks, fintechs, software platforms) for access to the payment acceptance infrastructure.
Market & Clients
Key Customers
It targets regional banks, fintech companies, and vertical software developers in Central and Eastern Europe who want to natively integrate payment acceptance.
Similar Startups
Wultra
Wultra helps banks and fintechs replace legacy methods with phishing-resistant, passwordless and quantum-resistant authentication.
Read AnalysisFlowpay
Flowpay offers embedded finance infrastructure for B2B SaaS platforms โ such as POS, ERP and payment tools โ enabling them to offer their merchants financing of up to โฌ100k directly within the product experience, in a few clicks.
Read AnalysisSatispay
Italian mobile payments network offering a wallet for peer-to-peer transfers and merchant payments.
Read Analysis