Payment platform for online and mobile commerce, Braintree, is launching a new instant approval product and pricing plan, Braintree Instant, designed to enable startups to accept payments (view press release). Merchants will be able to accept payments without a waiting period for a merchant account or underwriting approval. 

Prior to the launch of Braintree Instant, merchants were required to either work with a payment aggregator, such as PayPal or apply for a merchant account. Braintree claims that payment aggregators allow for fast access, but generally only work for the smallest of merchants and introduce the possibility of painful service disruptions due to risk reviews if a merchant’s volume grows. Conversely traditional merchant accounts have been a much better tool for merchants that either have ‘meaningful’ volume or intend to scale to meaningful volume, but merchant accounts have typically been accompanied by lengthy application processes. Braintree Instant has been designed to alleviate this.

Braintree Instant comes without monthly minimums and offers a flat 2.9% fee with USD0.30 per transaction and merchants will typically receive their funds in two business days.