Payments look simple from the outside — you tap a card, money moves. The reality underneath is a patchwork of local networks, regulatory regimes, and banking relationships that makes global commerce genuinely hard to build. Rapyd was founded in 2016 to abstract all of that complexity into a single API. Its platform connects over 900 payment methods across more than 100 countries, letting businesses accept local payments, disburse funds, and manage compliance without building separate integrations for every market. It's the kind of infrastructure play that rarely makes headlines but quietly powers a significant chunk of global fintech. Rapyd has raised over $770 million and reached unicorn status in 2021, with backing from investors including Stripe. For European companies expanding globally — or global companies expanding into Europe's fragmented payment landscape — Rapyd's promise of a single integration is genuinely compelling. In fintech, the companies building the pipes often end up more valuable than the companies building the taps.