---
title: "Investing in Rainforest"
author: "Matt Brown"
canonical_url: "https://notes.mtb.xyz/p/rainforest"
source: "notes.mtb.xyz (Substack)"
year: "2024"
primary_topic: "investing"
tags: ["investing", "payments", "fintech", "vertical-software"]
fetched_at: "2026-05-14"
note: "Markdown twin of the canonical Substack post. The canonical URL above is authoritative; this file may lag if the original is edited."
---

**I’m excited to announce that I’ve led a $20M Series A investment into [Rainforest](http://rainforestpay.com/) on behalf of Matrix and joined the board. Rainforest enables software platforms to offer and monetize exceptional embedded payment experiences for end users.**

There’s a famous saying from the 2000s: "Advertising is the business model of the Internet.” In a few years, we’ll look back and say that **payments is the business model of software** — and that Rainforest powered much of those software-embedded payments.

![Square announcement graphic on a dark green background: the white Rainforest leaf-shaped logomark at the top, the headline "$20M Series A" in oversized white serif type, and the Matrix Partners logo. A bottom strip lists the participating investors as Tech Square Ventures, Infinity Ventures, Accel, Box Group, Ardent, and The Fintech Fund.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3gfS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fecbc1c61-66fc-45f7-a78d-5660cf84848b_1080x1080.png)

Successful B2B software is increasingly all-in-one and vertical-specific. I call these companies “ [vertical ERPs](https://notes.mtb.xyz/p/the-golden-age-of-vertical-erps).” Classic examples include Shopify for e-commerce stores and Mindbody for fitness studios.

Thousands of fast-growing vertical software companies today serve every niche—law and architecture firms, pool cleaners, pet groomers, churches, non-profits, and more. These platforms’ products are as unique as the verticals they serve, but they all share one thing: they enable their businesses to accept payments.

These platforms, otherwise unknown outside their niche, process hundreds of millions, if not billions, in payments on behalf of their customers. So it’s unsurprising that embedded payments are a critical monetization strategy, often accounting for >50% of revenue.

![Mock SaaS dashboard for a fictional gym management app, "Denise's Dumbbells (Powered by Gym Management App)", showing a Payments report tab with columns for created date, type (Pay-in/Refund), status (Succeeded/Failed/Cancelled/Processing), product (Personal Training, Membership, Spa, Fitness Class, Beverage, Protein Bar), amount, customer name, and card method. A floating mobile phone overlay shows the consumer-side checkout screen with Apple Pay, card entry, and a green "Pay $100.00" button — illustrating an embedded payments experience for a vertical software platform.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CsRv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F44cb38c0-bcfb-445f-bad8-41ad8f09204a_2832x1488.png)

But the bar for execution is high. Platforms expect a seamless, flexible, and beautiful payment experience. They want all the benefits of deeply embedded payments without headcount, expertise, and costs. This requires a combination of deep payments expertise with an understanding of SaaS products, platform growth, and product risk.

This is where Rainforest and its founder [Joshua Silver](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuasilver) come in. He co-founded a healthcare software and payments company that was acquired for over $450M and then started advising other platforms on their payments. From that position, he realized that existing providers all failed platforms in one way or another. So he decided to build the payments platform he always wished he had: [Rainforest](http://rainforestpay.com/).

![Photo of two men smiling at the camera inside a modern office space with track lighting overhead. On the left, a man in a dark brown quarter-zip sweater; on the right, Joshua Silver in glasses and a dark green Rainforest-branded t-shirt.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!I11W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b58874b-2e5d-4a88-a566-9c0cf4bbe89f_8192x5464.jpeg)

Everything Rainforest does—from its infrastructure choices (direct to banking partners) to its GTM motion (very focused on software platforms) to pricing (transparent and platform-friendly) to its post-sales success motion (hands-on and outcome-oriented)—is deeply intentional.

It’s clearly been designed by someone who has bought and implemented payments dozens of times, which Joshua has. That thoughtfulness appears in the impressive traction and customer satisfaction that Rainforest has earned in just a few months.

I’m excited to partner with Joshua and the rest of the Rainforest team as they help shift trillions of payments online and into software platforms.

Learn more on [Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/26/rainforest-lands-20m-to-challenge-stripe-with-embedded-payments-for-saas-providers/) or [rainforestpay.com](https://www.rainforestpay.com/)