Payrails
Payrails is a Berlin-based payments infrastructure platform that helps businesses optimize transaction flows, with $53M in Series A funding raised in June 2025 and 125 employees. Its clients include Puma, HelloFresh and Vinted.
The growth story
Payrails grew from 4 to 125 employees between 2021 and 2026, raising $53M along the way, most recently a Series A in June 2025.
About
Payrails sells software that consolidates payment processing, fraud prevention and fee analytics into one system for e-commerce companies. It targets mid-market and enterprise brands looking to reduce payment failures and processing costs across multiple geographies.
The company reached 125 staff within four years of its 2021 founding, with engineering making up a third of its workforce. Its Series A suggests rapid scaling potential, though current headcount growth rates are unclear.
Founders and leadership
Engineering dominates Payrails' org structure with 41 staff, suggesting a product-led scaling model. The company shows typical startup tenure patterns with a median employee stay of just one year.
The Payrails org chart
Orkhan Abdullayev (CEO / Co-Founder) leads 37 mapped leaders with 3 direct reports. Click +N to expand a team; names link to the person’s public profile.
Departments, and which ones grew
Headcount by function: Engineering 52 (+27% YoY), Sales 17 (+42% YoY), Information Technology 7 (0% YoY), Human Resources 7 (0% YoY), Business Development 6 (-14% YoY), Accounting 6 (-25% YoY).
Talent flow
Delivery Hero is Payrails' top talent pipeline, supplying 21 hires - nearly a fifth of its analyzed workforce. Alumni scatter to fintechs and AI firms, with OpenAI and Scalable Capital as notable destinations.
Most common previous employers of Payrails staff: Delivery Hero (21), Stripe (5), Rocket Internet SE (4), Klarna (3), Miro (3), foodora (3). Former Payrails employees most often moved to lite (5), OpenAI (2), PVcase (2), Scalable Capital (2), Yassir (1), Payment Methods List (1).
Alumni worth knowing
The Payrails mafia
Four alumni-founded companies exist, including SpendOne (8 staff) and Bluerails (4 staff), showing Payrails' role as a payments entrepreneurship hub despite its youth.
4Jens Wübbenhorst, was Senior Director, Engineering until 2024Ashwin Kumar, was Senior Engineering Manager until 2026Ale Aznar, was Head of Global Revenue Growth until 2023Ahmed Amer, was Staff Software Engineer until 2025Web traffic
Traffic mix: 54% direct, 22% search, 5% social, 0% paid.
What this company is made of
Most common skills at Payrails: SQL (41), Project Management (39), Python (Programming Language) (39), JavaScript (37), Leadership (37), Java (37), Communication (34), Team Leadership (33).
Where the team actually sits
Payrails people are concentrated in Berlin, Germany (51), Cairo, Egypt (13), Berlin Metropolitan Area (12), Germany (7). 2 offices on record.
Search footprint
Payrails attracts about 290 organic search visits a month, traffic worth roughly $7K a month if bought through ads. It gained 347 ranking keywords and lost 188 in the last period.
What employees say
- Compensation
- 2.80 / 5
- Career opportunities
- 3.00 / 5
- Senior management
- 2.60 / 5
- Work-life balance
- 2.50 / 5
Frequently asked
Payrails has 125 employees as of September 2026.
Payrails has raised $53M in total, most recently a Series A round in June 2025.
Payrails was founded in 2021 by Emre Talay, Orkhan Abdullayev.
Orkhan Abdullayev (CEO / Co-Founder) sits at the top of Payrails's reporting structure, with 3 direct reports.
The most common previous employers of current Payrails staff are Delivery Hero (21 people), Stripe (5 people), Rocket Internet SE (4 people).
Former Payrails employees most often move to lite (5), OpenAI (2), PVcase (2).
At least 4 companies have a founder who previously worked at Payrails, including SpendOne, Bluerails, Payment Methods List.
Payrails attracts about 290 organic search visits a month, worth roughly $7K a month in equivalent ad spend.
The most common skills among Payrails staff are SQL, Project Management, Python (Programming Language), JavaScript, Leadership.
Payrails staff are concentrated in Berlin, Germany (51), Cairo, Egypt (13), Berlin Metropolitan Area (12).
Payrails has about 52 people in Engineering, up 27% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Payrails has about 17 people in Sales, up 42% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Computed from 108 current and 74 former Payrails profiles, as of September 2026. Source: Crustdata.
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