Payment Orchestration and Industry Trends: Akurateco’s Vision for the Future of Payments

On April 9, 2025, Andrew Riabchuk, Founder and CTO of Akurateco, joined host Greg Myers on the Leaders in Payments podcast. In this episode, Andrew shares his journey in the payments industry, the founding story behind Akurateco, and the company’s approach to payment orchestration, white-label payment gateway solutions, scalability, customer support, and innovation. He also discusses the future of payments, including the growing role of crypto, verticalization in the payment industry, and why payments are becoming an essential part of every modern business.

Podcast source: https://leadersinpayments.com/2025/04/09/andrew-riabchuk-founder-cto-of-akurateco-episode-387/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwGZ8wVvTDA

Read the full conversation below.

Andrew Riabchuk’s Journey Into Payments

Host: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast. I’m your host, Greg Myers. On today’s show, we have a very special guest: Andrew Riabchuk, Founder and CTO of Akurateco. Welcome to the show, Andrew.

Andrew: Thank you, Greg, for the introduction. It’s great to be here today. Hello, everyone.

Host: Well, why don’t we start by having you tell the audience a little bit about yourself: where you’re from, where you grew up, where you went to school, and a few things like that?

Andrew: I’m Andrew Riabchuk, Founder and CTO of Akurateco, where we help businesses simplify payment management and make transactions smoother for their customers.

I grew up in Ukraine. I’m Ukrainian, and I earned my computer science degree from Kyiv Polytechnic University.

My fascination with payments began early on, I would say. My university friend and I created a prototype of a payment gateway back in university, along with other tools related to payments, not only the payment gateway. That set me on a path that kept me deeply involved in the payments industry ever since.

My professional journey in the field started in 2007 with the launch of a payment service provider, followed by a venture into the credit sector. Later on, I also launched an online media platform, an online payment magazine related to payments, which became one of the biggest in the post-Soviet landscape.

After all those years of working on different payment-related businesses and learning about the industry’s challenges and opportunities, in 2019, together with these partners and with some background and software already working and tested, I decided to channel our expertise into the technical side of payments. That led us to establish Akurateco as a standalone entity.

What Akurateco Does

Host: Okay, well, tell us what exactly Akurateco does.

Andrew: Akurateco is the official name, and it is a payment orchestration platform for payment service providers, banks, and large enterprise-level merchants. We specialize in payment orchestration and white-label payment gateway solutions, and essentially, we help businesses streamline their payment processes.

At Akurateco, we currently offer 50 pre-integrated banks and payment providers, as well as other financial partners, because we can work with any transaction-based flow. (Editor’s note: At the time of the podcast recording, Akurateco offered 50 integrations. Akurateco now offers 650+ integrations.)

So it is not only cards or transfers. It could be crypto, mobile carrier billing, or anything else that businesses can integrate with one connection to our platform, without being locked into a single option. For example, let’s say an e-commerce company is expanding to multiple new markets. They might need, and they will need, local payment methods in Europe, cards and mobile wallets in Africa, and bank transfers in Asia, all while ensuring a similar experience for their customers.

Instead of negotiating multiple integrations and handling those integrations separately in-house, they can connect all of these through our platform with one single integration. This effectively saves them time, reduces costs, and allows them to scale much faster. But still, the business negotiations stay on their side. We cover only the technical part.

Security and scalability of the platform are also things we take very seriously at Akurateco. That is why we have PCI DSS Level 1 certification. Currently, we are in the process of updating our annual certificate, as the certification is changing this year from the previous version 3 to version 4.0 and 4.0.1. I would say it is challenging, but we do this on an annual basis.

The second important thing for us is the scalability of the platform. This is actually the third generation of the platform, and we had two previous versions, obviously. This one is based on microservices, with the most recent databases and the ability to move the installation to any cloud or even bare metal. Our own SaaS solution is running on bare metal, not on a private or public cloud. But we also have installations on public clouds for our customers. So scalability is another dimension where we have put a lot of effort and expertise. We operate on a global scale, but so far, from a marketing and sales perspective, our focus is expanding our presence in Europe and the MENA region.

Our team is spread around the world. Half of our team is still in Ukraine, because my co-founders and I are originally from Ukraine. I have two co-founders, and at least three of us have significant experience in payments.

Nowadays, I do not live in Ukraine. I live somewhere on a plane between Portugal, Spain, and other countries. Beyond Ukraine, where we obviously have a company, we have offices in Portugal, Estonia, and the Netherlands, which helps us better serve our international clients. We also recently began hiring specialists from Africa to strengthen our presence there, because these emerging markets are quite important for us.

To summarize everything I said, our goal at Akurateco is simple: to provide reliable and innovative payment solutions that allow our clients to focus on their core business while we take care of their payment flows and payments overall.

Defining What Payment Orchestration Is

Host: You know, the term payment orchestration is thrown around a lot in this industry. So how do you define payment orchestration?

Andrew: For many people, payment orchestration means nothing more than smart routing. It means being able to send a transaction through the most optimal route, whatever that means in a particular case: cost optimization, an increase in the acceptance rate, and so on.

But since the term payment orchestration appeared, and like any new business landscape, it has been changing and developing very quickly. Nowadays, payment orchestration is not just the ability to outsource all the complexity of technology to another company. It is not just being able to send transactions through the optimal route or to make other, let’s say, tricks like cascading and so on. It is also the ability to run and launch new products provided by schemes like Visa and Mastercard, introduce new payment methods, expand to new markets faster, and implement payments into your product in the most original and native way.

Just recently, I had a conversation with one of my friends, who is currently a leader at a very famous company specializing in marketing SaaS software. I asked him what his best years were, and what the most interesting and promising features or parts of his product were that gave him the best outcome. He started talking and gave me examples related to payments: how he changed subscriptions, and how those subscriptions helped him double revenue. So it was not about his product. It was about payments. And that was 10 years ago.

So payment orchestration, for me, is something that can bring much more value at much less cost. I know that sounds fantastic, like a fairy tale, but it is possible.

Akurateco’s Differentiators: Technical Expertise, Customer Support, and Continuous Innovation

Host: So what would you say differentiates you from your competitors out there?

Andrew: This is a great question. What sets Akurateco apart is our technical expertise. Together with our co-founders, we have more than 50 years of cumulative experience in the financial sector, particularly in payments.

Another thing is our focus on customers and our drive for continuous innovation for them. We see ourselves as not just payment software. We are a true partner in helping our clients overcome their unique challenges. Our approach is about understanding what each client needs, then tailoring our solution to meet their requirements. It is also about understanding what exactly they need now, what they will need later, and putting that into a kind of roadmap for improvement. This is important.

We are also trying to be on the edge in terms of innovation. When I say innovation, I mean the most recent products that would increase the value of our platform for our customers. For instance, let’s take the most common companies we talk about in payments: Visa, Mastercard, and Amex as well. Visa and Mastercard are building infrastructure and new products much faster than they did 10 years ago. So our goal is to give our clients the ability to use or try those products with minimal cost. All those products are dedicated to making the life of the consumer, the cardholder, easier; making payments more seamless; and making them faster.

Let’s say 20 years ago, it was swiping a card. Then it was the chip, then NFC, now it is a phone, now it is a watch, and so on. So it becomes easier. But the technology behind that is becoming more and more sophisticated, and implementing it into your product is becoming more and more sophisticated as well. We help our customers try it with just a few clicks. They will see whether it is helpful for them or not, and whether it is something significant for their business or not. But still, they should have the ability to try it. This is also why I love our DNA.

Another thing is support, because it does not matter how sophisticated your product is. Even if your product is very sophisticated, the most important thing is the level of support you offer to your customers. Without that, they will not be able to learn it, use it in all its variations, and get the full value from it. So we put a lot of effort into support.

Beyond that, we do not just provide support or support integration. We provide expertise. We have what we call the payment team as a service. Essentially, this is a team of payment professionals who step in to understand the business of our clients and navigate them through payment challenges. Again, it is not just about having the right tools. It is about having the right people to support them every step of the way.

Last but not least, beyond our technical capabilities, our company culture is what really makes a difference. We always aim to create an environment where everyone has the opportunity to grow in the way that works best for them. I think it is important to recognize that we have areas for improvement, new challenges, and opportunities to learn and get better. I think that is very important. I believe our customers feel that. It helps not only us grow, but also our customers and clients.

The Future of Payments: Faster Transactions, Seamless Experiences, and Industry Verticalization

Host: So let’s talk about the future of payments a little bit. Where do you see the payments industry headed in the next three to five years?

Andrew: The payments industry is moving toward even greater speed and seamlessness in the next few years, just as it has been before. Everything is moving toward making transactions as effortless and seamless as possible for consumers.

As I said, while on the surface it looks like things are getting easier, behind the scenes, the payment process, software, and complexity of software implementation are becoming even greater. It is becoming harder, and it requires greater expertise. I think this will continue. There will probably be new ways to pay, such as face recognition or something else, which will make payments even easier and combine payment methods in new ways. This is the first point. For us, it is a challenge because it means more technologies implemented on the platform.
From the business side, I think it is about verticalization. What does that mean? More and more payment providers will specialize in specific, sometimes very niche, industries. There are payment providers for marketplaces. There are payment providers for SaaS software. There are payment providers for food and delivery services. There are payment providers for companies like Uber and Bolt, and so on.

This means that regular providers, even great companies like Stripe or Adyen, sometimes, at a certain level of a company’s growth, cannot provide the variety of features, combinations of features, support, and other things required by the company.

So I think it is just beginning. In five or 10 years, there will be great big payment companies that specialize in very narrow niches. For us, even though we do payment orchestration, our niche is payment orchestration for payment providers, banks, and large enterprise merchants.

These large enterprise merchants can normally also be considered payment providers, because sooner or later, they come to the idea of creating a payment provider in-house. For us, they are also payment providers.

There are competitors that are doing a great job and specialize in SMBs, marketplaces, and so on. So verticalization relates not only to payment providers, which are our clients, but also to us.

Crypto as a Payment Method

Host: What do you think about crypto becoming a more accepted payment method?

Andrew: Let’s dive into the history. It all started with Bitcoin. Nowadays, even people who are not very aware of crypto have heard about Bitcoin. But they also understand that Bitcoin cannot be used as a payment method for an average transaction, because it was created and dedicated to different things. But there are many new blockchains that are much faster, even compared to Visa and Mastercard.

Despite all the questions related to Solana, for instance, and the Zip blockchain, it is really fast. Sometimes it is faster than Visa and Mastercard by the official TPS benchmarks they confirm.

In theory, yes, of course, I truly believe that crypto will become a very important part of our day-to-day routines and operations for consumers all around the globe, not even related to crypto or to any business related to crypto. But practically, when? I do not know. I am sure it is going to be within the next five to 10 years. But in what form? Who will be the winner? This is a tough question. I am not ready to answer. But definitely, yes, it will be there.

The Founding Story Behind Akurateco

Host: Well, let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about you. You mentioned a little bit of your professional journey. So maybe tell us about the founding story: how the three of you came together and why you started the company.

Andrew: Yeah. As I said earlier, I had previously founded a few companies related to payments. Obviously, I had employees, partners, and friends, including two of my co-founders. They had worked in one company and another company. Vladimir, my co-founder, was the director of a payment provider back at the time. Alexandra was the operations director at another payment provider. Having great expertise and great people I could rely on and trust, we combined our efforts. That is how we created Akurateco.

I think the idea behind that was not only driven by the complexity of a payment provider becoming global nowadays, because of licensing issues, compliance issues, and so on. It was also about concentrating on the technical part of the work and sharing our expertise. Since we service payment providers, we have a lot of knowledge to share. This is one of the goals behind creating Akurateco: to share this expertise and make payments and the lives of people working in payments a bit easier and better. As I said, having such extensive expertise and background in creating a really good product brought us to the idea of creating Akurateco.

Sustainable Growth, Results, and Long-Term Value as Key Drivers

Host: So what are some things you are passionate about? Maybe one work-related passion and one personal passion?

Andrew: That is an interesting question. To be honest, I never really thought of my personal and business-related or work-related passions as separate categories. I believe, in my case, they tend to overlap in different areas of my life.

If I had to name something, I would say that I am passionate about building sustainable businesses: creating something that works today but continues to evolve and provide value in the long run. The ability to adapt and stay relevant in a fast-changing industry is something I find really important.

On a personal level, I am someone who is motivated by results, and by processes as well, but processes dedicated to results. That is no doubt for me. I find a lot of fulfillment in setting goals and working toward them in business and in other aspects of my life, whether I do sport or something else. Reaching certain milestones and seeing tangible progress is something that keeps me moving forward.

Advice for Building a Career in Payments

Host: So, Andrew, if someone is just graduating from university or college and looking for their first job, and they come to you and say, “Hey, I’m interested in building my career in the payments industry,” what advice would you give them to help them be successful?

Andrew: Yeah, I think the most important thing is to choose a path and stay focused on it. Stay focused, stay busy, like it was said recently in a Netflix film about Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In payments, there are so many directions you can take: compliance, fraud prevention, payment technology. My advice is to pick the area that excites you, go deep, and become really good at it.

The payment industry is broad, and it is only getting broader and constantly evolving. But if you commit to mastering a specific area, you have a much better chance of building a successful career, whether you plan to create your own business or work as an employee.

So my advice would be to continuously refine your skills. Stay curious, stay busy, and always look for ways to improve. Whether it is payments or any other field, becoming a true professional in your area will open the right opportunities for you.

Closing Thoughts on the Payment Industry

Host: Okay, yeah, I think that is great advice. Before we close out the show, is there anything else you would like to discuss?

Andrew: I do not think we have time to discuss everything I want to discuss, but I think the payment industry is not some boring, finance-related thing. It is a really exciting area, and it is also a landscape where almost everyone can find their path. And it is just the beginning. I do not remember where, but I recently read that every big business should, to a certain extent, become a financial company or a financial startup, because payments are just as much a part of the product as anything else you have built before.

Host: Well, Andrew, thank you so much for being on the show today. I know your time is very valuable, so thank you so much for being here.

Andrew: Thank you, Greg. Thank you, everyone. And to all your listeners out there, I thank you for your time as well. Until the next story.