Founder Spotlight: How Ansa is transforming merchant wallets

After years in payments, Sophia Goldberg jumped into founding a company to solve the pain points of modern merchants with a purpose-built solution. At the first Founder Spotlight event of our new series, she told Renegade Partners Co-founder and Managing Director Renata Quintini how her company Ansa is democratizing branded digital wallets.

Some founders have always known they would start a business. Others take a more winding route into entrepreneurship. Sophia Goldberg falls into the second camp. The Ansa CEO and co-founder began her career in politics, working for a UK Member of Parliament and later supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. But the combination of Clinton’s loss and Brexit in 2016 left Sophia at a crossroads, and she began to consider a life outside politics.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the mechanisms of the global economy, like container ships,” says Sophia. “I realized that the private sector, especially the startup world, moved faster than government and could feed that intellectual curiosity.”

Sophia landed a job at Adyen, the Dutch payments giant, as an account manager and threw herself into learning about the industry. Before long, she became a go-to authority for payments questions from colleagues and also took on the role of training new hires. She later compiled her knowledge into a best-selling book, The Field Guide to Global Payments, which aims to make the topic more accessible.

Why Ansa is reimagining modern payments

During her four-and-a-half years at Adyen, Sophia noticed an evolution in what merchants expected from their payment solutions. They wanted more control over payments and new ways to enhance customer loyalty, similar to the Starbucks in-app payment feature or airline stored value systems. When Sophia couldn’t find a suitable provider, she decided to team up with former Google and Affirm engineer JT Cho to build one.

Ansa’s ‘wallet-as-a-service’ focuses initially on the coffee, quick service restaurant (QSR), and marketplace verticals. Using its API-first platform, any merchant can launch a wallet within weeks rather than quarters.

“We enable increased revenue, better cash flow, and stronger customer relationships,” says Sophia. “Offering a $5 bonus when an order is late, for instance, can rebuild trust and boost retention. Our goal is to make payments as personalized as other aspects of a brand's digital experience.”

Using a branded wallet also helps merchants avoid hefty credit card fees, which is especially impactful for businesses like coffee shops with high-frequency, small-ticket transactions. For example, a $4 latte paid with a credit card can carry fees over 10%.

Ansa’s products are a hit with merchants and consumers.

“Some of our customers have seen 10% of their monthly revenue move to their Ansa-powered wallet within a year,” says Sophia. “One case study showed a 30% rise in customer frequency, with a medium-sized coffee chain seeing customers visit an additional time each month.”

This is likely to increase further following Ansa’s latest product release: in-store payment capability that integrates with every point-of-sale and payment service provider without additional hardware or staff training. Compass Coffee will be the first to implement the new system, allowing consumers to add their balance to their Google or Apple Wallet and pay by tapping their device.

“What’s equally exciting is the marketing potential Ansa Anywhere brings to merchants. Compass Coffee is releasing this alongside their autumn menu, featuring themed card art like a squirrel and jack-o’-lantern,” says Sophia.

How Ansa secured its Series A

Ansa is well capitalized to sustain its fast pace of innovation. It raised a $14 million Series A in April, led by Renegade Partners, taking its total funding to nearly $20 million.

“Fundraising is a lot like dating. It’s about finding a partner who can help build your company, not just provide capital,” says Sophia. “For the Series A, we needed someone experienced in scaling and navigating market changes.”

Discussions with Renegade were extensive, but happened over a short period.

“I was initially hesitant to speak, but Renegade’s clear communication and willingness to move quickly impressed me. The accessibility and support from the team have been great, and our formal board meetings have been productive. It’s a positive and collaborative experience.”

The funding has allowed Sophia to double down on product development and engineering to maintain Ansa’s streak of rapid growth. The company doubled its customer base between the first quarter of 2024 and the same period last year. The team has also grown to 15 employees, who are mostly full-stack engineers, but Ansa recently hired its first two salespeople.

What’s next for Ansa

The direction of travel in the payments industry aligns neatly with Ansa’s mission to give more power to merchants.

“We’re seeing brands increasingly realize they can control their payments processes, which is a significant shift from seeing payments as a mere cost,” says Sophia.

Ansa is seizing the moment to expand its offering and support more use cases.

“Our goal is to be a versatile solution, for large enterprises across numerous industries.”

The company is now in conversations with major brands, and is also looking beyond its initial verticals.

“We’ve been in deep conversations with a Fortune 500 powerhouse,” says Sophia. “We’re addressing issues they face with outdated systems and are eager to provide solutions they can’t achieve with their current technology.”

“We're also engaging with global brands and convenience stores. QSR is just the start for us. Customer relationship and loyalty is important to merchants across industries and markets.”

Ansa has come a long way in a short space of time. As the company enters its next phase of growth, we’re excited to see how it continues to shape the future of merchant payments.

Ansa is hiring – if you’re excited about the company’s mission, check out its open positions. At Renegade, we’re backing similar companies that are redefining their industries. If you’re building something interesting, we’d love to hear from you.