Orum.io

# Orum: Payment Orchestration Infrastructure for Modern Businesses

High-Level Overview

Orum is a fintech company that provides payment orchestration and bank account verification infrastructure for businesses. Founded in 2019 and based in New York, Orum builds API-based solutions that enable companies to process instant payments across multiple rails—including RTP, FedNow, Same Day ACH, ACH, and wires—without requiring costly direct bank integrations.[1][4]

The company serves enterprises across insurance, marketplaces, brokerage firms, and creator platforms, solving a critical pain point: the complexity and expense of accessing modern payment networks. Rather than forcing businesses to integrate separately with each payment rail, Orum provides a unified platform that abstracts this complexity, allowing companies to launch full payment offerings in as little as two weeks.[2] The company has achieved significant traction, with over 285,000 businesses using its RTP rail monthly as of its latest announcements.[1]

Origin Story

Orum was founded in 2019 by Stephany Kirkpatrick, who serves as CEO.[4] The company emerged at a pivotal moment when U.S. payment infrastructure was modernizing—the Federal Reserve was launching FedNow, and real-time payment rails were becoming increasingly accessible. Rather than building a consumer-facing payments app, Kirkpatrick identified an opportunity in the B2B infrastructure layer: businesses needed a simpler way to access these new payment networks without undertaking expensive, time-consuming bank integrations.

The company raised $82.2 million from prominent venture investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Accel, and Canapi Ventures, validating the market need for payment orchestration.[4] A significant validation of Orum's approach came through high-profile use cases, such as BNY's $10 million liquidity transaction for Computershare using Orum's RTP infrastructure.[1]

Core Differentiators

Direct Federal Reserve Access: Orum's "Direct to Fed" solution provides a direct connection to the U.S. Federal Reserve's payment infrastructure as a service provider, enabling 24/7 payment delivery without traditional bank intermediaries.[4]

Unified API Approach: Rather than requiring separate integrations for each payment rail, Orum's Momentum and Deliver APIs provide a single integration point that abstracts access to RTP, FedNow, Same Day ACH, ACH, and wires at bank-rate pricing.[1][2]

AI-Powered Optimization: The platform uses artificial intelligence to predict fund availability within accounts and pre-authorize transactions, enabling intelligent routing that balances speed and cost based on business preferences.[4]

Instant Bank Account Verification: Orum's Verify API solves the fraud and certainty problem by enabling real-time bank account validation, reducing payment failures and increasing transaction confidence.[3][4]

Enterprise-Grade Portal: The recently launched Monitor portal removes technical barriers by providing non-technical payment operations teams with real-time visibility into transfers, one-click payment scheduling, and custom insights—eliminating the need for extensive technical training or business analyst support.[3]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Orum operates at the intersection of two major trends reshaping financial infrastructure. First, the U.S. Federal Reserve's modernization of payment rails—particularly the launch of FedNow and expansion of RTP—has created new possibilities for instant, low-cost payments. However, this modernization created a fragmentation problem: businesses had to choose between different rails or integrate with multiple systems.

Second, the broader fintech ecosystem has shifted from consumer-facing applications toward B2B infrastructure. Companies like Stripe, Plaid, and others have demonstrated that there's enormous value in abstracting complexity away from developers and businesses. Orum applies this principle specifically to payment orchestration.

The timing is critical: as corporate demand for instant intercompany transfers grows and regulatory pressure increases around payment speed and certainty, Orum's infrastructure becomes increasingly essential. The company influences the broader ecosystem by making modern payment capabilities accessible to mid-market and enterprise businesses that previously lacked the resources for direct Federal Reserve connections.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Orum's acquisition by Stripe in late 2025 represents a watershed moment for the payment orchestration category. The deal signals that Stripe—one of the world's most influential payment platforms—views real-time payment infrastructure as core to its future strategy. Rather than building this capability in-house, Stripe chose to acquire Orum's proven technology and team, suggesting the company had achieved product-market fit and technical differentiation that would have taken years to replicate internally.

Looking forward, Orum's integration into Stripe will likely accelerate adoption of real-time payments across Stripe's massive merchant base. The combination of Orum's orchestration intelligence with Stripe's distribution and brand could establish a new standard for how businesses access modern payment rails. As FedNow and RTP adoption continues to grow, and as businesses increasingly demand instant settlement capabilities, Orum's infrastructure—now backed by Stripe's resources—will likely become foundational to how money moves through the U.S. financial system.

The broader lesson: payment infrastructure companies that solve genuine operational complexity for businesses, rather than chasing consumer trends, have proven to be acquisition targets for major platforms seeking to strengthen their core offerings.