Small businesses in the United States — and increasingly in other markets — have long complained that payment processing fees are opaque, inconsistent, and weighted in favour of the processors rather than the merchants paying them. Gravity Payments was founded in Seattle in 2004 with a straightforward pitch: transparent pricing, no hidden fees, and customer service that actually answers the phone. It became briefly famous in 2015 when its founder Dan Price made headlines by raising the minimum salary of every employee to $70,000 — a decision that generated as much business as it did controversy. The company operates as a merchant acquirer and payment processor, serving small and medium-sized businesses across the US and with growing international presence. Its story is less about technical innovation and more about a service model built on trust in a market where trust has traditionally been in short supply. In the context of European payment processing, where the merchant acquiring market is consolidating rapidly, Gravity's approach — boutique service, transparent pricing, genuine customer relationships — represents a durable alternative positioning to the scale players.