# Astra

> Astra is a San Francisco-based fintech that gives developers a single API to move money instantly between bank accounts and debit cards. Built on rails like Visa Direct, RTP, FedNow and ACH, its platform lets fintechs, banks and enterprises embed instant disbursements, account funding and accelerated transfers without building their own payments stack - going live in about 30 days instead of six months. Founded in 2016 by Gil Akos, Sam Morgan and Zach Nolan, Astra has processed more than $1 billion in lifetime payments and is backed by FPV Ventures, Nyca Partners and others.

- **Founded:** 2016
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founders:** Gil Akos (Co-founder & CEO), Sam Morgan (Co-founder & COO), Zach Nolan (Co-founder & CTO)
- **Team size:** ~33 employees
- **Products:** Instant Disbursements, Instant Account Funding, Accelerated Bank Transfers, Payments Cloud, Developer APIs & SDKs
- **Notable:** Launched the first point-to-point debit transfer product (with Cross River Bank) in December 2021, Executed its first instant card-to-card transaction via Visa Direct in February 2022, Surpassed $100M in annualized gross payment volume and 650,000+ real-time transfers by early 2023

## Products & services

- **Instant Disbursements** — Push-to-card payouts that settle directly to the balance of a recipient's debit card in real time using Visa Direct, 24/7/365.
- **Instant Account Funding** — Lets new users fund a card, wallet or account instantly from an existing debit card, removing the wait for ACH to clear during onboarding.
- **Accelerated Bank Transfers** — Faster bank-to-bank (ACH/RTP/FedNow) money movement with rules-based automation and virtual account capabilities.
- **Payments Cloud** — Enterprise-grade platform architecture (launched 2026) that unifies multiple payment rails, risk and compliance behind a single vertically integrated API and SDKs.
- **Developer APIs & SDKs** — A vertically integrated API, libraries and developer resources that let teams embed financial automation and go live in roughly 30 days.

## Achievements

- Launched the first point-to-point debit transfer product (with Cross River Bank) in December 2021
- Executed its first instant card-to-card transaction via Visa Direct in February 2022
- Surpassed $100M in annualized gross payment volume and 650,000+ real-time transfers by early 2023
- Crossed $1 billion in lifetime payments processed and a $1 billion annual run-rate in late 2024
- Raised $40M total to date across Series A and a 2026 strategic round led by Nyca Partners
- Launched the Payments Cloud platform for enterprise instant payments

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Astra raised $10M from Nyca Partners and introduced the Payments Cloud, a platform architecture for enterprise instant payments. Nyca portfolio companies like Sardine and Treasury Prime had already chosen Astra.
- **2024-12** — Hit $1 billion in lifetime payments processed and a $1 billion annual run-rate in instant payment volume.
- **2023-06** — Partnered with Alloy to streamline payment integrations and with Treasury Prime to offer instant payments.
- **2022-10** — Closed a $10M Series A led by FPV Ventures plus a $30M line of credit.

## Links

- Website: https://astra.finance
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/astrainc
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/astra_finance
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgWte-nH80c
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/astratechnology/

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/astra
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-16