Recurly, a startup that makes it easy for other companies to manage their subscription billing, has released a payment gateway designed specifically to handle the unique requirements of recurring billing.
Recurly’s service allows businesses to quickly implement a subscription billing system, handling tasks like credit card number storage (it also supports integration with financial software like QuickBooks).
As President Dan Burkhart explains, there is turbulence in the subscription payments space because 5 to 15 percent of credit cards fail monthly in subscription billings. In many instances, credit card errors result directly in unwanted customer churn, which is extremely costly for subscription businesses with recurring revenue streams.
With Recurly operating its own payments gateway, the startup can be integrated directly with payment processers’ backends and more efficiently manage recurring transactions.
In addition, Recurly provides premium customer retention reports for each Recurly payment gateway customer. Unlike most payment gateways, which are designed to process one-time transactions, Recurly’s payment gateway helps businesses optimize their customer retention rates, and minimize customer churn.
Recurly is also moving towards a different pricing model that charges 1.25 percent of billable invoice amounts and $0.10 per transaction, which includes use of the payments gateway. Burkhart says that the company is moving away from a tiered pricing structure based on transaction volume. Additionally, the gateway only supports U.S. merchants but Recurly will soon add support for international companies.
Leena Rao is currently a Senior Writer at Fortune Magazine.
Leena had a brief stint at Google Ventures as an Operating Partner.
Leena’s first role out of journalism school was at TechCrunch which she joined in 2008. She rose through the ranks becoming the Managing Editor for TechCrunch and a voice at TechCrunch Disrupt.
She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City.
She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was the captain of the women’s varsity tennis team. She has also contributed technology content for Oprah.com.