Payload receives big payday with $9M milestone

A growing connection to UC’s 1819 innovation ecosystem

Ryan Rybolt started his career at Fifth Third Bank a few years after earning his degree from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Now, Fifth Third sits on his own company's board.

The Cincinnati fintech Payload recently closed a $9 million Series A funding round, its first significant outside investment since launching in 2019, led by none other than Rybolt's former employer. It's the kind of full-circle moment that only happens in a city as tight-knit as Cincinnati.

"It's a fun Cincinnati story," Rybolt told the Cincinnati Business Courier.

This Bearcat isn't wrong.

Co-founding a $6 billion idea

Payload CEO Ryan Rybolt, left, and co-founder Ian Halpern. Photo/Payload

Rybolt and co-founder Ian Halpern weren't newcomers to the payment industry. Rybolt had already co-founded Infintech, later merged into Nashville, Tennessee's i3 Verticals. Halpern had run PlacePay, a rent-payment platform. After leaving their previous roles, the two spent a year building something different: a single integration handling bank transfers, cards, real-time payments, digital wires and digital wallets instead of stitching together legacy systems.

The bet paid off.

Together, they founded Payload, which processed its first payment in January 2020. By May 2026, it was moving nearly $500 million a month, putting the company on pace for roughly $6 billion in annual volume. Payload is now a leading processor of residential real estate earnest money deposits across the U.S. and Canada and has expanded into legal payments, property management, homebuilding and professional services.

A new home to match the growth

Payload suite inside the 1819 Innovation Hub. Photo/Diana Lara

In March of 2026, Payload moved from Blue Ash into UC's 1819 Innovation Hub, planting itself in the heart of the Cincinnati's Innovation District alongside startups, Fortune 500 corporations and researchers. Fifth Third Bank also has a presence there, meaning Rybolt's past and present now share the same building.

The Series A round will fund a bigger engineering and go-to-market push. Payload currently has 17 employees and plans to add about five more over the next year, since Rybolt describes the company as capital-efficient and already profitable.

“This isn't rescue funding,” he says. “It's rocket fuel.”

Why it matters

Payload logo. Photo/Payload

For the 1819 Innovation Hub, Payload is yet another proof point that Cincinnati can grow serious fintech companies. For Payload, its presence at the Hub is a front-row seat to UC's talent pipeline and entrepreneurial network without leaving the city where it all started.

Three chapters, all located in the same hometown: Fifth Third Bank, Cincinnati's fintech founders and now UC's innovation ecosystem. Rybolt's career keeps looping back to the same ZIP code, and Payload's next act will be written there too.

Cover image from left to right: Ryan Rybolt; Ryan Hays, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer 1819 Innovation Hub and UC Executive Vice President; Marvin Abrinica, Director of the Venture Lab, and UC's popular mascot, the Bearcat. Photo/Diana Lara

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Payload receives big payday with $9M milestone