The online trade in Switzerland recovered in 2023: After the market volume collapsed in 2022, it rose again last year to 14.4 billion CHF. This is shown by the total market survey conducted by Handelsverband.swiss together with GfK Switzerland and in cooperation with the Swiss Post. Unlike the previous year, this corresponds to an increase of three percent.

In light of this development, Payrexx, the innovative provider of payment services from Thun, is pleased to announce exceptional growth for the year 2023: The entire Payrexx family achieved a significant increase of about 42 percent in transaction volume compared to the previous year, with approximately 610 million CHF. In 2022, the volume was about 430 million CHF. Ivan Schmid, founder and CEO of Payrexx, is enthusiastic:

“With every step, we come closer to our vision. Payrexx's goal is to ascend to become the top provider of payment solutions in Switzerland and support SMEs with our innovative, seamless payment systems on their way to success."

The most important tool for this is “Payrexx Swiss Collecting”, a package that offers over 50,000 satisfied Comerciante all major payment methods, with only one contract, completely from one source. The already wide range of payment methods – including TWINT, PostFinance, Mastercard, Visa, Amex, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Alipay, WeChat Pay, and many more – was additionally expanded last year. For instance, Reka, Google Pay, Centi, TWINT “pay later,” and Heidipay were gained as partners and included in the offering.

Key milestones in 2023

The most significant and most important moment of success for Payrexx in 2023 resulted from the annual survey of online merchants, conducted by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI). In this survey, the company was voted the most popular provider by nearly 600 participating online shops for Swiss SMEs – ahead of PayPal, PostFinance, and Saferpay.

Another crucial step for the start-up from Thun was the start of the Series A financing round: Previously, funds came from the company's organic growth and from amounts from existing private investors. In December, Payrexx received an additional investment of 2.5 million CHF from a consortium of Icelandic investors familiar with the payment industry.

Growth remains the focus for the regional payment provider. Accordingly, Payrexx is pleased with more than 17,000 new registered customers, predominantly from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein. 7,000 joined directly through Payrexx, 10,000 via the unique platform solution “Payrexx for Platforms” in Switzerland. A total of 25 such platform Comerciante were gained by the regionally anchored payment provider in 2023.

And finally, the Payrexx team itself also grew: Nine new employees were welcomed and trained. Today, a total of 32 people work for the Swiss technology start-up. The average age is almost exactly 30 years – a particularly young and innovative team!

Three growth goals for the future

For the coming business year, Payrexx is focusing on three growth projects. Firstly, “Payrexx QR Pay”, the already launched tool for payment via QR code, is to be further promoted and marketed. Here, too, the team experienced an initial moment of success: Payrexx QR Pay was awarded the Innovation Award 2023 by Volkswirtschaft Berner Oberland in January 2024.

Secondly, Payrexx aims to become an Omni-Channel provider and thus focus more on transitioning from pure online trade to payment on-site. The development and distribution of a SoftPOS app and POS terminals for transaction processing in stores and companies are planned.

Thirdly, Payrexx is working on implementing an E-Commerce Instant-Payment payment method. This would allow transactions to be made in real-time in the future, and Comerciante would no longer have to wait for their money. In this way, Payrexx aims to further simplify everyday life for Swiss SMEs – and come one step closer to its vision.