At CardFlight, problem-solving is embedded in our DNA.
Since our inception in 2013, we've been dedicated to revolutionizing the landscape of mobile payments for small businesses. Our journey began with a simple idea: to bridge the gap between mobile businesses and easy-to-use payment solutions.
Follow along below for some highlights of our journey so far.
2013: Inception and Innovation
Founded in 2013 in New York City, CardFlight introduced our first commercial product, the CardFlight Software Development Kit (SDK). This innovative solution allowed application developers to integrate secure, in-person payment acceptance into their mobile applications.
2014 - 2016: Establishing identity
- 2014 - Launch of SwipeSimple and Industry Recognition: Recognizing the need for turn-key solutions, SwipeSimple was launched in April 2014. This user-friendly mobile app provided small merchants with a convenient way to accept payments by swiping a credit card or manually entering cardholder information when using their own mobile device, catering to various business environments. Our commitment to innovation was acknowledged when CardFlight received the ETA Technology Innovation Award in May 2014.
- 2015 - EMV-Readiness and Expanding Reach: Ahead of the curve, CardFlight introduced EMV-enabled chip card readers, putting SwipeSimple at the forefront of the U.S. migration to chip-card technology. This enabled very small and micro-businesses to now accept “dipped” transactions, and to take advantage of the new anti-fraud features and ensure optimal compliance with industry standards. By year end, SwipeSimple was used by 5,000 small business merchants across every state in the U.S.
- 2016 - Continuous Expansion: Within two years of launch, SwipeSimple was preferred by 10 of the top 30 merchant acquirers, enabling traditional sales channels to offer modern software-based payment solutions. As our partnerships grew, we received consistent feedback that SwipeSimple was “easy…and just works!” from merchants and frontline sales teams.
2017 - 2023: Momentum and Growth
- 2017 - Industry Leading Innovation: With a team of engineers to add features that keep merchants on the edge of payment technologies, we introduced a new generation of card readers that enabled small merchants to easily accept “tapped” contactless payments like Apple Pay.
- 2018 - Product Enhancements and Growing Recognition: CardFlight introduced EMV Quick Chip support, improving transaction speeds by enabling the authorization for an EMV transaction to take place in one step, instead of two. Our rapid growth was recognized by the company was ranking #139 among the fastest-growing U.S. privately-held companies in the Inc. 5000 list and earning a spot on Deloitte’s list of fastest growing companies. The introduction of advanced payment methods like Virtual Terminal and the Customers feature - enabling subscription and installment payments to customer cards on file - pushed SwipeSimple beyond mobile payment acceptance. Business reporting and management tools were now available at the merchant Dashboard.
- 2019 - Smart Terminal Solutions: The SwipeSimple Terminal was launched, further expanding our range of user-friendly payment solutions. The ability to create and send invoices was added to SwipeSimple. We celebrated our second appearance on the Inc. 5000 List.
- 2020 - Sustained Growth: SwipeSimple experiences rapid adoption by food & beverage and specialty retail merchants seeking to quickly adopt contactless, curbside, and card-not-present payment acceptance as local pandemic regulations impacted main street businesses. Adding the ability to create a digital Payment Link within SwipeSimple gave small merchants an easy way to sell online and via social media. Merchants who accept payments from corporate and government cards were now able to take advantage of Level II and Level III interchange qualification when using SwipeSimple. By year-end, over 70,000 merchants are using SwipeSimple.
- 2021 - Omni-Channel Product Expansion and Industry Recognition: SwipeSimple Register was released, offering enhanced features to make check-out fast and easy for modern merchants. SwipeSimple now meets the needs of merchants and reseller partners by offering omni-channel payment solutions, making it possible for small businesses to accept payments in a variety of ways, beyond mobile or traditional point of sale. We achieved the rare distinction of being named to the Inc. 5000 list for the fourth consecutive year.
- 2022 - Team Expansion: After pivoting to a remote-first company in early 2021, the CardFlight Team expanded both in size and in geography, with employees working across multiple US states..
- 2023 - Empowering Small Businesses: With over 125,000 merchants nationwide, SwipeSimple remained at the forefront of empowering small businesses with modern, easy-to-use payment solutions, driving growth and success across 350 industries.
2024 and beyond: Leading the Future of Small Business Payments
Today, CardFlight continues to showcase our capabilities in developing and delivering feature-rich software solutions:
- All-in-one software tools to manage a small business from anywhere
- Business intelligence and insights in a central, system-of-record platform
- Payment acceptance solutions built in-house to facilitate commerce no matter how a small business operates
SwipeSimple has evolved into a well-used and well-loved SaaS payment solution for small businesses. We are tenacious in maintaining the “easy…and just works!” reputation of SwipeSimple, not only for the product itself, but in the ability of our partners to easily sell, board, and support the broad range of solutions.
At CardFlight, we are more than just a payment technology company. We are problem-solvers, innovators, and partners in your business journey, whether you are a merchant wanting to easily accept payments or a reseller partner who sells to small businesses.
