PayOnward: A Palm Beach Fintech Startup Modernizing Community Banking in the U.S.
PayOnward is a Boca Raton-based startup on a mission to modernize community banks and credit unions, setting a new standard for payments infrastructure in the tech, media, and financial services industries. This Boca Raton–based fintech startup is empowering long-standing institutions to compete in today’s digital landscape, without sacrificing the personal, community-focused service that makes them unique.
Below, explore what PayOnward does, how it’s growing, who’s leading it, and what valuable lessons young entrepreneurs can take from its journey.
Rebuilding Trust in Local Finance
For years, local financial institutions such as community banks and credit unions have lagged behind big banks and modern fintechs. Burdened by slow legacy systems, expensive vendors, and outdated infrastructure, many have struggled to deliver the fast, intuitive, integrated experiences consumers now expect, including instant payments, AI-driven insights, and seamless digital tools.
PayOnward was created to solve this problem.
Its core mission is to equip smaller institutions with enterprise-grade payments technology that’s modern, compliant, scalable, and affordable. PayOnward built a single, cloud-native infrastructure that supports:
Instant payments and transfers
Peer-to-peer (P2P) capabilities
Bill pay and invoicing
Earned Wage Access (EWA)
Cross-border payments
Solutions for small businesses
Compliance, analytics, and reporting tools
Rather than replacing community banks, PayOnward empowers them by giving them the same capabilities as major national institutions so they can stay relevant and competitive.
Founder Spotlight: Louis Hernandez Jr.
PayOnward was founded by Louis Hernandez Jr., who serves as its Executive Chairman. Hernandez is also the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Black Dragon Capital, the investment firm that launched the digital payments platform.
Hernandez is known for his long-standing leadership in fintech, digital transformation, and mission-driven innovation. His vision for PayOnward is to build a global, trust-centric payment infrastructure that empowers underserved markets and strengthens local financial institutions rather than replaces them.
To bring this vision to life, PayOnward appointed Cary Strange as CEO, a seasoned executive with decades of experience in payments, banking software, and financial technology. Together, Hernandez and Strange form a leadership team uniquely equipped to modernize the foundations of American community finance.
The Growth of PayOnward
Launched in 2022, PayOnward quickly attracted investment from Black Dragon Capital, known for backing companies that transform legacy industries. CEO Cary Strange recognized a glaring inefficiency: smaller banks lacked flexible, API-driven infrastructure to innovate at scale.
In 2025, Black Dragon Capital deepened its investment through a new funding round and a strategic partnership with Open Banking Solutions, signaling strong confidence in PayOnward’s ability to reform the core of community financial services from the ground up.
With its strong leadership, strategic funding, and expanding product suite, PayOnward is rapidly becoming a foundational player in the U.S. fintech ecosystem.
What PayOnward Offers
PayOnward is a universal payments platform built for speed, flexibility, and modernization. Its cloud-native architecture allows institutions to deploy and scale quickly, while its white-label design enables banks and credit unions to brand the platform as their own.
Key capabilities include:
Peer-to-peer and account-to-account transfers
Cross-border payments for small businesses
Bill pay and invoicing
Earned Wage Access (EWA)
Integrated analytics and compliance systems
For community banks and credit unions, this is transformational. With PayOnward, they can retain deposits, grow non-interest revenue, and attract younger customers, all while preserving their community-centered identities.
What Young Entrepreneurs Can Learn from PayOnward
PayOnward offers several lessons for up-and-coming founders:
1. Look where others aren’t | Some of the most powerful opportunities exist in unglamorous, heavily regulated industries that many startups avoid.
2. Respect the domain | PayOnward succeeded by working with regulators and institutions, not against them which is a crucial lesson for anyone innovating in finance.
3. Build behind the scenes | Infrastructure isn’t flashy, but it enables entire ecosystems to thrive. PayOnward proves that real power often lies in foundational technology, not consumer-facing apps.
What’s Next for PayOnward?
As of 2025, PayOnward is still in its early stages, but is rapidly gaining momentum. With strong financial backing, a seasoned leadership team, and a laser focus on modernizing community institutions, PayOnward is positioned to redefine the future of payments infrastructure in the United States.
For entrepreneurs, particularly in Florida’s growing fintech sector, PayOnward serves as a reminder: real innovation isn’t always glamorous, but it is always impactful.
For more info visit: www.payonward.com
