Rye

About Rye

Rye provides a universal checkout API that enables developers to integrate purchasing capabilities for products from any online merchant directly into their applications. The company's mission is to facilitate any digital commerce experience by allowing apps to query real-time product data, perform on-platform checkouts without redirects, and earn revenue on sales. Rye's technology is designed to connect developers and brands, creating a more open commerce ecosystem. For developers, Rye offers a single API to turn any product URL into a completed checkout, handling complexities like pricing, tax calculations, shipping, and order submission. This allows developers to focus on the user experience while Rye manages the backend e-commerce details. Merchants can connect their e-commerce systems, such as Shopify, to the Rye platform in minutes, making their products available to a network of developers and new sales channels.

The company was founded in 2021 by CEO Arjun Bhargava, a former Reddit engineer, along with Twitch co-founder Justin Kan and several other entrepreneurs including Robin Chan, Jamie Quint, Saurabh Sharma, and Tikhon Bernstam. In October 2022, Rye announced a $14 million seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto), with participation from investors like Goat Capital, Solana Ventures, and L Catterton. Initially launched with a Web3 focus, Rye has since pivoted to power AI and agentic commerce, unveiling its Universal Checkout API. This API utilizes AI-powered browser automation to handle the entire checkout process autonomously with any merchant on the internet.

Rye's business model is centered on its API infrastructure. Developers use Rye to build shopping features into their apps, marketplaces, and platforms. The system supports selling products from partnered brands via the 'Sync API' and selling products for affiliate commissions from merchants without a direct relationship via the 'Sell Anything API'. The developer acts as the merchant of record, collecting payments from customers through their own processor (like Stripe), and then uses Rye to place the orders with the various merchants. Rye's API can handle carts with items from multiple merchants simultaneously. The company has positioned itself as the "Stripe for agentic commerce," aiming to simplify the process of selling other merchants' products online.