Paddle, founded in 2012, operates a Merchant of Record payments platform designed for software and digital product companies. By acting as the Merchant of Record on behalf of its clients, Paddle assumes full responsibility for payments processing, tax compliance, fraud protection, subscription billing, and customer billing support - consolidating what would otherwise require a fragmented stack of third-party tools into a single platform. The company processes over $1 billion in payments annually across more than 245 territories for upwards of 5,000 software sellers, ranging from bootstrapped startups to large enterprises.
The platform's core capabilities include automated subscription billing, multi-currency checkout in 29 currencies, tax compliance across 100+ jurisdictions, and AI-driven revenue optimization. Because Paddle holds Merchant of Record status, its clients are not directly liable for the legal and regulatory obligations that typically accompany selling software globally - Paddle handles those requirements on their behalf.
Paddle serves companies across the software and SaaS spectrum and is backed by investors including KKR, FTV Capital, Kindred, Notion, and 83North. Its core proposition is to allow software teams to concentrate on product development rather than payment infrastructure.