Flute
TEMPE, Ariz. — June 9, 2026 — More than half (55%) of consumers say they would stop or seriously reconsider shopping at a local business after one bad payment experience. However, most of the small-business owners serving them don’t think their setup has ever cost them anything.
Flute, the payments platform for the everyday economy, today released “The Visibility Problem: What It Costs When Payments Won’t Get Out of the Way,” a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers and 200 small business owners. The report finds that payment friction is a hidden tax on the growing businesses powering the everyday economy, costing them customers, capital, and time they can’t get back.
Running a small business today means juggling inventory, staff, rent, and growth, often as the only person managing it all. More than one-third of owners juggle two or more separate platforms just to manage payments and finances, creating a tangle of tools and logins and adding friction to a process that should be seamless.
Instead, payments are quietly costing them on three fronts: customers who walk away, capital they can’t access, and time they don’t have. The report findings include:
Flute addresses each directly. Growing businesses get same-day payouts, working capital personalized based on each merchant’s transaction history, and a single platform that replaces the patchwork most owners are managing today.
Every delayed payment has a ripple effect. Customers walk away, sales stall, and business owners scramble to cover expenses from personal funds. That’s why speed matters at every step. Fast checkout keeps consumers coming back, and timely deposits keep businesses running smoothly.
“The wrong payments provider can quietly hold a business back,” said Derek Dean, CEO of Flute. “The real cost isn’t always visible, but it affects every decision owners make. Growing businesses are silently paying the cost of being ignored. What they need are tools that give them control, speed, and clarity so they can focus on serving customers and building momentum. That’s what Flute is here to provide.”
Recently, Aurora Payments rebranded as Flute to build for the everyday economy, the growing businesses that have spent years choosing between processors that overcharge them and tools that were never made for how they work, without the friction:
Read the full report and learn more at www.flute.com.
Flute commissioned independent surveys to assess the real-world impact of payment friction on both small business owners and consumers in the everyday economy.
The industry survey was conducted by 200 U.S. small business owners, including self-employed respondents, at companies with 0-500 employees. The research explored how small business owners chose their current payment provider, the operational burden of managing payments, and the business impact of issues such as payment fraud, delayed funding, fee visibility, reconciliation, and customer checkout friction.
The consumer survey was conducted by Dynata among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 U.S. adults. The survey explored checkout friction, payment preferences, unexpected fees, flexible payment options, and how payment experiences influence consumer confidence, especially for higher-value purchases. Participants were drawn from Dynata’s proprietary, first-party panel of verified, opt-in respondents.
Both surveys were fielded in May 2026.
Flute is the payments platform for the everyday economy. Backed by Corsair Capital, Flute gives growing businesses the financial tools to run their operations efficiently, without the headaches or the price tag. Learn more at flute.com.
TEMPE, AZ, UNITED STATES, January 28, 2025 — Flute, a full-service payments provider, today announced a partnership with eSpa247, a cloud-based salon and spa management platform built specifically for beauty and wellness businesses. Through this integration, Flute’s embedded payment platform is now natively available inside eSpa247’s management system.
The integration allows salons and spas to accept payments securely within the same system they use to manage appointments, services, retail sales, staff scheduling, and client relationships. Payments are no longer a separate front-desk process, helping reduce friction, improve accuracy, and streamline day-to-day operations.
With Flute embedded directly into eSpa247, beauty businesses can accept card-present, contactless, and digital payments tied to appointments, walk-ins, retail purchases, memberships, and loyalty activity. By eliminating disconnected terminals and manual reconciliation, owners gain clearer visibility into revenue, tips, and overall performance.
“Beauty businesses need payment technology that keeps pace with how they operate day-to-day,” said John Badovinac, SVP of Embedded Commerce at Flute. “By embedding Flute into eSpa247, we’re giving salon and spa owners a faster, more intuitive way to accept payments while maintaining clear visibility into services, tips, and overall performance.”
The integration delivers Flute’s full payments infrastructure to eSpa247 users, including PCI-compliant security, tokenization, and real-time fraud protection. Payment data flows directly into reporting and financial dashboards, providing consolidated insights across services, retail, and locations. This unified view helps beauty businesses manage cash flow more efficiently and scale with confidence.
“Our goal with eSpa247 has always been to simplify operations for wellness professionals,” said Tony Lam, founder of eSpa247. “We provide tools for online booking, marketing, loyalty, and staff management, but adding Flute gives our users one less system to manage and more time to focus on clients.”
As salons and spas continue to adopt cloud-based systems and integrated POS technologies, the partnership between Flute and eSpa247 reflects growing demand for software platforms that embed payments directly into daily workflows. Together, the companies help beauty and wellness businesses operate more efficiently while delivering a smoother, more connected guest experience.
For more information about Flute for software providers, visit our partner page.
Flute is the payments platform for the everyday economy. Every merchant gets a dedicated account, transparent pricing, a modern dashboard, and a service team that knows their business. Backed by Corsair Capital, Flute has supported merchants across the United States since 2005. Learn more at flute.com.
eSpa247 is a cloud-based POS and management platform built specifically for salons, spas, and wellness businesses. The platform combines appointment booking, walk-in management, retail sales, inventory tracking, memberships, customer communication, marketing tools, and reporting into a single, easy-to-use system accessible from any device. Designed to streamline operations, reduce administrative overhead, and enhance the client experience, eSpa247 empowers business owners and staff to focus on delivering exceptional service while gaining real-time insights into performance and revenue.
Tempe, Ariz., November 12, 2025 — Flute, a full-service payments provider, today announced a partnership with DCIT, the creator of BusinessMind, a cloud-based software solution for jewelry retailers and manufacturers.
The integration embeds Flute’s payments technology directly into BusinessMind, allowing jewelers to manage payments, inventory, customer records, and reporting in a single system designed specifically for the jewelry industry.
“BusinessMind has been a trusted platform in the jewelry industry for years,” said John Badovinac, SVP of Embedded Commerce at Flute. “Integrating our gateway delivers a modern payment experience that simplifies operations and enhances financial visibility.”
BusinessMind is known for supporting complex workflows such as repairs, custom orders, and shared inventory across multi-store environments. With the gateway now embedded, users can accept payments securely without relying on external terminals, while ensuring full PCI compliance and real-time data sync across transactions, inventory, and customer accounts.
“Through this integration, we’re giving our customers an even more seamless experience. Payments, inventory, and customer data all stay in one place,” said Raffi Minassian, President of DCIT. “It streamlines operations with integrated inventory management, CRM, and POS, specifically designed for multi-store environments. Adding Flute gives our customers a fully integrated solution that keeps everything in one place.”
The partnership enhances BusinessMind’s value as a complete business management system while expanding Flute’s presence in the jewelry industry. Together, the two companies deliver a powerful combination of industry-specific tools and embedded financial technology.
Flute is the payments platform for the everyday economy. Every merchant gets a dedicated account, transparent pricing, a modern dashboard, and a service team that knows their business. Backed by Corsair Capital, Flute has supported merchants across the United States since 2005. Learn more at flute.com.
DCIT’s BusinessMind is a cloud-based business management platform designed for the jewelry industry. It combines point of sale, inventory tracking, repair and workshop management, CRM, and analytics in one application available for both Windows and macOS. BusinessMind supports complex workflows and helps jewelers manage day-to-day operations with clarity and control.
LAS VEGAS, NV, UNITED STATES, August 5, 2025 — Flute, a full-service payment technology provider, today announced a strategic partnership with iVerticle, the developers behind the BravaPOS retail software platform. This collaboration brings Flute’s embedded payments platform into the BravaPOS ecosystem, offering a seamless, integrated solution that enhances operational efficiency and unlocks new revenue potential for iVerticle and its merchants.
“We’re excited to welcome iVerticle and BravaPOS to our expanding partner network,” said John Badovinac, SVP of Embedded Commerce at Flute. “Their modular approach helps merchants deploy customized solutions quickly, combining CRM, project management, payments, and financial reporting. iVerticle consistently delivers meaningful value to their customers.”
Integrating Flute with BravaPOS simplifies transactions, reduces manual reconciliation, speeds checkout, and ensures PCI compliance and security. Merchants benefit directly from improved operational efficiency and a comprehensive retail solution.
“Working with Flute has been a true collaboration,” said Joel Blouin, Business Systems Architect at iVerticle. “Their hands-on support and dedicated specialists made the integration smooth. Most importantly, they’ve enabled our merchants to cut processing costs and see faster, more predictable revenue.”
As retailers increasingly expect integrated payments within their POS platforms, Flute helps software companies like iVerticle meet these needs while generating consistent revenue per transaction.
For more information about Flute for software providers, visit our partner page.
Flute is the payments platform for the everyday economy. Every merchant gets a dedicated account, transparent pricing, a modern dashboard, and a service team that knows their business. Backed by Corsair Capital, Flute has supported merchants across the United States since 2005. Learn more at flute.com.
iVerticle develops BravaPOS, a comprehensive retail point-of-sale solution that streamlines operations for independent retailers. BravaPOS provides easy-to-use tools for inventory management, sales tracking, and customer engagement, enabling retailers to operate efficiently and stay competitive.
Learn more at https://www.iverticle.com/.
TEMPE, AZ, UNITED STATES, May 6, 2025 — Flute, a full-service payment technology provider, today announced that Derek Dean has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Dean succeeds Brian Goudie, who will transition to the role of Executive Chairman after nearly a decade leading the company’s rapid expansion.
Since joining Flute as Chief Revenue Officer, Dean has expanded the company’s direct sales organization, strengthened marketing, and advanced Flute’s SaaS-focused go-to-market engine. As CEO, Dean will accelerate organic growth and position the company as the end-to-end financial-technology partner of choice across multiple verticals.
“Handing the CEO reins to Derek is the natural next step in a leadership transition we put into motion a year ago,” said Brian Goudie, Executive Chairman of Flute. “Derek’s energy, customer focus, and ability to scale high-performance teams have already advanced our mission, and as CEO, he will propel Flute even faster while I concentrate on long-term strategy and strategic partnerships—including targeted M&A.”
As Executive Chairman, Goudie will guide board governance and long-range strategy while cultivating key relationships with processing partners, sponsor banks, and ISOs. He will also lead Flute’s M&A agenda to complement Dean’s organic-growth initiatives.
“Flute combines a powerful technology platform with an unwavering commitment to merchant and partner success,” said Derek Dean, Chief Executive Officer of Flute. “Brian built an exceptional foundation. My focus now is to unlock the next wave of growth by deepening our fintech capabilities and delivering even more value to our partners and customers.”
Dean brings more than 25 years of go-to-market leadership in enterprise software, data management, and service-commerce platforms. He joined Flute from Syndigo, an enterprise SaaS data-management company, where he served as President and Chief Revenue Officer. Before that, he was Senior Vice President of Sales and Customer Success at EverCommerce, a service-commerce platform that provides vertically tailored SaaS solutions.
“Flute’s leadership transition underscores both the strength of its bench and its commitment to long-term value,” added Jeremy Schein, Flute’s board member and Partner at Corsair. “We are excited to continue supporting Derek, Brian, and the entire team as they accelerate the company’s fintech journey.”
Dean’s appointment as CEO continues a series of strategic moves Flute has recently made to position the company for further growth, including the launch of its flagship cloud-based payment solution, which empowers small to midsize businesses to manage their payments through one seamless customized tech solution.
Flute is the payments platform for the everyday economy. Every merchant gets a dedicated account, transparent pricing, a modern dashboard, and a service team that knows their business. Backed by Corsair Capital, Flute has supported merchants across the United States since 2005. Learn more at flute.com.
Corsair is a specialist investment firm offering opportunities for investors and solutions for companies across its private markets Buyouts and Infrastructure businesses. The firm’s buyouts business is a financial services investor focused on making control investments in three verticals: payments, software, and business services. The infrastructure business operates as a strategic partnership with Investcorp as of December 2023. Investcorp Corsair focuses primarily on value-add opportunities in transportation, logistics, and associated infrastructure subsectors, blending operating platforms and deep sectoral expertise with equity sponsorship. Corsair has invested $13.6 billion in capital across buyouts and infrastructure since inception. For more information, please visit www.corsair-capital.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
TEMPE, AZ, UNITED STATES, October 23, 2025 — Flute, a full-service payments provider, today announced a strategic partnership with LimoGrid, a reservation and dispatch system designed specifically for the chauffeured transportation industry.
The integration gives operators a single platform to manage everything from bookings to billing, all with secure, built-in payments.
“LimoGrid understands what transportation companies need to run efficiently,” said John Badovinac, SVP of Embedded Commerce at Flute. “This integration is about making it easier for operators to handle payments from the same system they use to manage their fleet, schedule trips, and communicate with clients.”
With its gateway embedded, LimoGrid users can now accept payments directly within the platform while managing reservations, dispatch, fleet tracking, and invoicing, all without switching systems or relying on third-party hardware.
“By integrating Flute’s payment technology, our platform gives operators a powerful set of tools in one place,” said Conrad Karl, Director of Business Development at LimoGrid. “From managing a few airport transfers to running a large charter service, transportation businesses can stay organized, get paid faster, and serve clients better.”
As more transportation companies shift to digital-first solutions, this partnership gives LimoGrid a competitive edge with fully integrated payments. It also helps generate new recurring revenue streams from every transaction processed through the platform.
For more information about Flute for software providers, visit our partner page.
Flute is the payments platform for the everyday economy. Every merchant gets a dedicated account, transparent pricing, a modern dashboard, and a service team that knows their business. Backed by Corsair Capital, Flute has supported merchants across the United States since 2005. Learn more at flute.com.
LimoGrid is a cloud-based reservation and dispatch platform created specifically for the chauffeured transportation industry. It brings together booking, fleet management, invoicing, payments, and customer communication into one modern system accessible from any device. Learn more at https://www.limogrid.com.
TEMPE, AZ, UNITED STATES, October 9, 2025 — Flute, a full-service payments provider, today announced a strategic partnership with Clarity, the cloud-based point of sale platform built exclusively for jewelry retailers. This collaboration brings Flute’s embedded payments platform into the Clarity ecosystem — delivering a seamless, integrated solution that enhances efficiency and unlocks new value for jewelers.
“Working with Clarity gives us the opportunity to deliver an integrated payment experience tailored to the unique demands of jewelry businesses,” said John Badovinac, SVP of Embedded Commerce at Flute. “Whether it’s a custom engagement ring or a routine repair, our goal is to make the payment process effortless so jewelers can focus on craftsmanship and client relationships.”
Built from the ground up to serve the specialized needs of jewelers, Clarity supports key features such as repair tracking, custom orders, consignment management, and client text messaging.
Now, with Flute fully embedded, Clarity users gain even more capabilities, including faster checkout and billing, enabling them to manage in-store sales, custom jobs, and repairs through a unified platform. Secure payment processing ensures every transaction is protected with PCI compliance, tokenization, and fraud detection. And simplified daily operations help streamline reporting and reconciliation with accurate, end-of-day summaries.
“We built Clarity to be simple and powerful. Jewelers needed a POS that understands their world, from custom designs and trade-ins to consignment and service work,” said Waqas Saeed, Founder of Clarity. “With Flute integrated, payments become one less thing to worry about.”
As point of sale platforms continue to evolve, Flute’s embedded payments platform enables software providers like Clarity to meet merchant expectations for seamless transactions while creating consistent revenue opportunities with every sale.
For more information about Flute for software providers, visit our partner page.
Flute is the payments platform for the everyday economy. Every merchant gets a dedicated account, transparent pricing, a modern dashboard, and a service team that knows their business. Backed by Corsair Capital, Flute has supported merchants across the United States since 2005. Learn more at flute.com.
Clarity Point of Sale is a cloud-based POS platform created specifically for jewelers. It brings together inventory management, custom jobs, repairs, consignment, customer communication, and reporting into one modern system accessible from any device. Learn more at https://claritypointofsale.com/.