Startup Amaryllis Attracting Buzz

This month, Amaryllis, a tech startup building modular solutions for payment facilitators and merchant acquirers, has closed a significant round of financing, made two strategic hires, connected directly with industry professionals to answer questions and comments on the startup’s first CEO chat and made an impression at a major payments conference.

CEO Mark Bishopp says it’s been a whirlwind, but he’s pleased about the momentum and hopes to ride the wave as far as possible.

First, the financing: While the group behind the funds has asked to remain anonymous, Bishopp said the investment put it on par with other investor shareholders, and the group plans to triple the investment by the end of the year.

That’s separate from and in addition to the startup’s ongoing Series A funding round, which is drawing attention from brand-name players like Chase — whose recent purchase of WePay shows that the industry is looking for tools like this, Bishopp said.

Bishopp revealed funds will continue to fuel the momentum Amaryllis saw this past month, including spreading the word by getting Bishopp on a speaking circuit.

Second, the hires: Again, Bishopp declined to name names, but he said that the new vice president of Business Development and head of Program Management Globally would play a key role in elevating Amaryllis above “startup” status.

Third, the CEO chat: Bishopp said that attendees weren’t afraid to ask the hard questions, starting with the basics of payment facilitation and aggregation and ranging through risk control as well as domestic and global payment facilitation.

Amaryllis will be hosting similar chats every six weeks, with the next one scheduled for Dec. 13.

Bishopp says the mentorship role is what sets Amaryllis apart from other tech solutions. Part of the deal is for the startup to work with clients in an advisory fashion first. Only when the client has developed its own strategic vision is it time to decide whether partnering with Amaryllis is the right move.

Finally, Bishopp said the company was able to generate a lot of buzz and forge many new connections across four days at the recent Money20/20 conference and plans to make appearances at several upcoming conferences as well to grow exposure.