Back to articles
Runa's 2023: Building the world's first digital value infrastructure
As we close out this year, it’s a great time to reflect on the last twelve months of significant progress at Runa. We started the year with a clear goal: to empower businesses worldwide with more efficient, scalable, and user-centric payouts supported by an industry-leading network with a depth and breadth of options. Let’s dive into the most impactful product releases that increased your reach, streamlined your workload, and delighted your users with impactful payouts.
Runa FX: Revolutionizing cross-border payouts with seamless currency exchange
This year, we launched Runa FX, a game-changer in simplifying currency exchange for global businesses. Imagine sending rewards to your team in Paris or incentives to clients in Tokyo, all with a few clicks. This groundbreaking feature makes this a reality for your business with real-time, 24/7 conversion capabilities and competitive foreign exchange rates.
Goodbye to manual processing and cumbersome third-party systems. Hello, global business opportunities! The seamless integration of Runa FX into our platform means you can now send hassle-free and cost-effective international payouts in 19 currencies to recipients in 33 countries, any time, instantly.
Mike Olthoff, Founder & CEO of Coincards, shares his experience: "Runa's extensive network and innovative solutions like Runa FX have significantly enhanced our gift card offering and overall satisfaction."
Global Network Expansion: Powering payouts around the world
In today’s hyper-connected world, connecting businesses, merchants, and consumers on a global scale is mission-critical. With Runa’s strategic expansion into new countries, you can effortlessly connect with new demographics, explore untapped markets, and broaden your customer base.
This year, we proudly extended the Runa Network to include key markets such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovakia, Singapore, Japan, and Mexico. This expansion is a testament to our commitment to providing comprehensive global coverage and local payout options that recipients truly value. In our ongoing commitment to global financial inclusion, stay tuned as we add more countries and enhance our network in 2024.
Kellie Carter, Operations Administrator at Each Person, highlights the practical impact of our expansion: “Our customers love the variety of retailers to choose from. Runa's diverse currency options and country-specific shops are a boon for our international customers.”
Runa Network: Delighting users with new, popular payout options
To complement our global expansion, in 2023, we supercharged our payout options, helping businesses connect with international audiences more effectively and meaningfully. Our industry-leading payout network, with 5x more options than the industry average, expanded to include options from 1688 new and popular merchants, bringing the total to 2600.
But our focus isn't just on quantity. We've prioritized meaningful diversity in our offerings—from travel gift cards that let recipients explore the world to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that tap into the burgeoning digital economy.
We were also excited to introduce a new category of sustainable payouts, which enable your recipients to actively participate in eco-friendly initiatives. For example, through our partnership with Dots.eco, payouts can directly contribute to carbon offset initiatives, support endangered species protection, and engage in other vital conservation activities. This not only provides a rewarding experience for the recipients but also aligns with our commitment to fostering a positive impact on the planet.
With all these great choices, remember you don’t need to choose on behalf of your customers. The Runa Payout Link further enhances this experience by providing recipients with the flexibility to choose how they redeem their rewards, ensuring that each payout is as meaningful as it is effortless.
Maurice Harary, Co-Founder of Fluz, attests to the effectiveness of our approach: “Runa's extensive range of digital incentives and their reliability has been instrumental in our growth. They provided the solutions that we needed to expand our reach and enhance our offerings.”
Streamlined brand approvals: Ensuring rapid access with improved decisioning
Having grown the Runa Network and adding hundreds of merchants you love, we recognized a key challenge: accessing these top-tier merchants typically involved a slow and cumbersome process. So, we set out to revolutionize this experience.
Our new brand approval engine reduces administrative effort and sets a new standard for efficiency. It provides real-time updates, with auto-approval for 90% of merchants on our network, leveraging your existing information to fast-track your access. In cases requiring more details, we've got you covered by saving your information for quicker, hassle-free future approvals.
Runa API: Enabling fast, secure, and seamless digital value payouts at scale
Launching our new API was crucial to our commitment to providing fast, secure, and seamless digital value payouts at scale. With lightning-fast ordering, industry-leading uptime, and access to new features, currencies, and regions, the Runa API transforms how you manage digital payouts.
Runa API in Numbers:
🌟 99.999% uptime
⚡ Zero timeouts
🚀 500 milliseconds response time
We look forward to helping you get up and running with the new Runa API in the new year!
What's coming in 2024
As we wrap up an extraordinary year at Runa, it's clear that our journey in 2023 has set new benchmarks. We're grateful for the trust and support of our customers and merchant partners, who have been integral to our success.
Your feedback and engagement have driven us to improve and innovate constantly. As we look forward to the new year, we're excited to continue this journey together, bringing more efficiency, reliability, and versatility to digital payouts.
