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About
Payfirma was started in Vancouver in 2011 by Michael Gokturk to give merchants one place to take and see payments — in person, online and on mobile — rather than three disconnected systems, adding invoicing and recurring billing over time. It raised a $13 million Series A. In October 2017 the company's governance became public: shareholders voted to remove three board members after Gokturk accused them of self-dealing and of trying to block a reverse-takeover deal. Shareholders approved an amalgamation with the buyer in February 2018, and the company was acquired by Merrco, the Toronto cannabis-payments processor, forming Merrco Payfirma under CEO Fern Glowinsky. Merrco's parent rebranded as KORT Payments in July 2024. Robin Jones, then leading marketing, spoke at TechVancouver in November 2016 about replacing trade-show lead counting with measurement: being able to tell a CEO that last month produced 2,478 leads, 496 qualified, 124 deals at an average of $7,000, and to forecast what another $10,000 of spend would return.
Backers
Raised a $13 million Series A. Board members named in the 2017 dispute included Roger Hardy, Lance Tracey and Marc Levy. The full investor list was not confirmed here.
Quick answers
What did Payfirma do?
It processed card payments for merchants across in-store, online and mobile channels, with one dashboard covering all of them, plus invoicing and recurring billing.
What happened to Payfirma?
It was acquired by Merrco in 2018 after a shareholder-approved amalgamation, forming Merrco Payfirma. Merrco's parent rebranded as KORT Payments in July 2024.
What was the 2017 board dispute?
In October 2017 shareholders voted to remove three directors after founder Michael Gokturk accused them of self-dealing and of blocking a reverse-takeover deal. The sale was approved by shareholders in February 2018.