The $1.1m dispute between Rapyd and a former salesperson

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Hello reader,

Here at Tech in Asia, our business development team works hard to bring in the dough. I’ve seen them on back-to-back calls, their inboxes filled to bursting with email after email. I’ve even helped them with proposals to prospective clients, staring in awe at the detailed slide decks they put together.

They’re an important part of the company, and I admire them and their tenacity, because I could never. When I worked at a shoe shop as a teenager, my sales figures were always one of the lowest because “if you don’t want to buy, then don’t buy I guess” was my approach to the job. That’s how I learned that I’m rubbish at sales, and I started doing other things, which have led to me writing this newsletter.

Where I’m going with this is that the sales life is a tough life, and their commissions are often structured as such to incentivize and motivate them to keep hustling despite the challenges that come their way. However, sometimes conflicts arise between employee and employer over these commissions – and things can get pretty gnarly, as we learn in today’s premium story.

Today we look at:

• Fintech firm Rapyd’s legal tussle with an ex-employee over unpaid commissions
• AI company Sqreem’s latest acquisition
• Other newsy highlights such as Golden Gate Ventures’ new fund in the Middle East and India’s newest unicorn

Premium summary

A curious case of commissions

Image credit: Timmy Loen

A former salesperson of UK-based payments unicorn Rapyd is suing the firm for over $1.1 million in unpaid commissions, which the company is contesting.

• Not counted: Rapyd CEO and co-founder Arik Shtilman alleges that transactions by a client brought in by the former employee were “round-tripping,” which meant that they were only done to boost the number of transactions in the platform. He also contended that these transactions, which amounted to US$934 million from two clients, were ineligible for commissions due to the terms of the company’s compensation plan. Meanwhile, the ex-salesperson said in his affidavit that the supposed instances of “round-tripping” were valid transactions as the clients were moving their own funds using Rapyd’s products, which include a multicurrency treasury.
• Negotiations not going well: Both parties negotiated over the commissions from August 29 to December 4 in 2022. The ex-employee held fast to his demands to be paid US$1.1 million, and he alleges that a deal was made during the August 29 meeting. Shtilman, however, claimed no resolution had been reached during that meeting.
• Rising star: Rapyd was valued at US$15 billion in 2022. After announcing a series E round worth US$300 million in August 2021, it launched an extensive marketing campaign to recruit employees. Amid hosting lavish recruitment events, the company was reportedly preparing to lay off 10% of its workforce in 2022 and was involved in other wage and commission disputes.

Read more: Ex-staff sues fintech unicorn Rapyd, alleges $1.1m in unpaid commissions

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