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Clear2Pay is a Brussels, Belgium-based financial technology company that develops secure payment processing software and managed services for global financial institutions. The organization provides an Open Payment Framework designed to improve internal operational efficiencies and deliver faster, data-rich transactions for blue-chip banks operating across Western Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. Prior to its strategic acquisition, the enterprise scaled its workforce to approximately 1,200 employees and was on track to generate €110 million in annual turnover during 2014. The company raised roughly €50 million in venture funding, highlighted by a major 2009 investment round led by private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners. In late 2014, the financial services technology provider FIS acquired the business for €375 million to expand its global enterprise payments portfolio. Clear2Pay was founded in 2001 by Jurgen Ingels and Michel Akkermans.
Clear2Pay has raised $37.0M across 4 funding rounds.
Clear2Pay has raised $37.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Clear2Pay has raised $37.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Clear2Pay's investors include Hummingbird Ventures.
Clear2Pay has raised $37.0M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $8.0M Series U in December 2008.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 2008 | $8M Series U | — | Hummingbird Ventures | Announced |
| Jun 1, 2006 | $20M Series D | — | Hummingbird Ventures | Announced |
| Oct 1, 2003 | $7M Series B | — | Hummingbird Ventures | Announced |
| Nov 1, 2001 | $2M Series A | — | Hummingbird Ventures | Announced |
Clear2Pay was a Brussels-based payments technology company that developed the Open Payment Framework (OPF), a service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform enabling financial institutions to unify and streamline payments processing across diverse formats like card, ACH, branch, bulk, high-care, and international transactions[1][2][3][7]. It served major global banks including ING, Banco Santander, Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, The Federal Reserve, RBS, Commerzbank, People's Bank of China, and others, solving inefficiencies in payments handling by providing secure, timely processing with richer data, early detection of issues, and reduced costs[1][7]. The company raised $117M, grew to over 1,200 employees across 14 countries, and was acquired by FIS in 2014, becoming part of the world's largest banking and payments technology provider[1][2][3][7].
Founded in 2001 in Brussels, Belgium, Clear2Pay emerged from Belgium's burgeoning fintech ecosystem, leveraging the nation's central European location and innovative culture[1][2]. Key figures included Michel Akkermans, Chairman and CEO, a pioneer in e-finance who previously built FICS into a 700-employee firm with $70M+ revenue focused on online banking and regulatory reporting; and Warren Gardiner, co-founder of Sienna and Chief Product & Strategy Officer with expertise in Asia-Pacific payment hubs[6]. Jurgen Ingels is also noted as an early champion, scaling the firm in 13 years into a sophisticated global payments leader servicing 500+ banks in 103 countries[1]. Early traction came from addressing fragmented payment formats, unifying them into a single index for real-time alerts and efficiency gains[1].
Clear2Pay rode the early-2000s payments modernization wave, capitalizing on regulatory shifts like SEPA in Europe and global demand for unified processing amid rising transaction volumes and format fragmentation[1][7]. Its timing aligned with banks' needs to handle diverse schemes (e.g., ACH, cards, international) efficiently, influencing Belgium's fintech explosion—home to 100+ firms inspired by Clear2Pay's success[1]. By proving scalable hubs for 500+ banks, it shaped ecosystem standards for interoperability, paving the way for FIS's dominance post-2014 acquisition and embedded fintech trends[2][3].
Post-2014 FIS acquisition, Clear2Pay's OPF tech endures within FIS's portfolio, driving ongoing innovations in unified payments for a real-time, data-rich era shaped by ISO 20022, open banking, and instant payments[2][3][5]. Trends like AI-driven fraud detection and cross-border unification will amplify its legacy, potentially evolving FIS's offerings amid rising global transaction demands. As an early unifier in fragmented payments, Clear2Pay's story underscores how targeted tech solves core fintech pains, fueling today's embedded finance giants.
