Runa

Runa is a payment infrastructure company that lets businesses move money, rewards and other digital assets instantly and at scale through a single API. The platform supports digital gift cards, prepaid cards and direct funding of bank accounts worldwide, and processes transaction volumes measured in the billions annually across more than 2,000 merchant partners. It was founded in 2016 and rebranded from WeGift to Runa in 2023, reflecting a shift from digital gift card sending to a broader payout infrastructure offering.

For engineers and technical leaders, the work centres on payments infrastructure and API design at cross-border scale: building integrations that abstract gift card distribution, prepaid card issuance and bank transfers behind one interface. The engineering culture is described as API-first, and the executive team includes people who have scaled companies such as Rapyd, Hyperwallet and Soldo. Aron Alexander, who founded the business, remains with the company.

Runa is headquartered in London, with offices in New York and Sofia and remote teams across Europe and North America. The company's backers include AlbionVC, Commerz Ventures, Clocktower Technology Ventures, SAP.iO, Stride and Unilever Ventures. Its stated focus is on removing friction from global payouts and enabling instant money movement for rewards, incentives and disbursements.