Suneera Madhani

Suneera Madhani is an American entrepreneur who co-founded Stax Payments, a subscription-based payment processing platform that reached a $1+ billion valuation before its acquisition by Greater Sum Ventures.^[1] After being rejected by 76 investors, Madhani built Stax from $50,000 in initial funding to processing over $40 billion in payments annually with 300+ employees.^[2] In 2023, she co-founded Worth AI, an AI-powered fintech platform that raised $30 million in Series A funding.^[3]

Madhani has been recognized as one of Fortune's 40 Under 40 and PaymentSource's Most Influential Women in Payments.^[4] She founded CEO School, a podcast and educational platform focused on helping female entrepreneurs scale their businesses to seven-figure revenues.^[7] As a first-generation Pakistani-American and the first in her family to attend college, Madhani has become a prominent advocate for women in fintech and entrepreneurship.^[1]

Madhani was born to Pakistani immigrant parents and spent four years of her childhood in Karachi, Pakistan, from ages 8 to 12.^[1] Her family moved frequently, and she attended 10 different schools by the time she graduated from university.^[7] She was the first person in her family to attend college.^[1]

Madhani earned a bachelor's degree in Finance and Marketing from the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business.^[6] During her time at the university, she developed an interest in entrepreneurship and business leadership that would later shape her career path.^[6]

Stax Payments (2014–2022)

In 2014, Madhani co-founded Fattmerchant (later rebranded as Stax Payments) with her brother Sal Rehmetullah in Orlando, Florida.^[1] The company pioneered a subscription-based payment processing model that charged merchants a flat monthly fee instead of traditional per-transaction rates.^[2] The founding team started with $50,000 in initial capital after being rejected by 76 investors.^[2]

Under Madhani's leadership as CEO, Stax grew to process over $40 billion in payments annually and employed more than 300 people.^[2] The company raised $264 million in total venture capital funding and achieved a valuation exceeding $1 billion.^[1][3] In 2020, Greater Sum Ventures acquired a majority stake in the company.^[3]

CEO School (2020–present)

In 2020, Madhani founded CEO School, a podcast and educational platform designed to help female entrepreneurs scale their businesses.^[7] The platform focuses on practical strategies for women founders to break through the $1 million revenue barrier.^[7] Through CEO School, Madhani also organizes wellness retreats and mentorship programs for high-achieving women entrepreneurs.^[8]

Worth AI (2023–present)

In 2023, Madhani co-founded Worth AI with her brother, launching their second fintech venture together.^[3] The company builds AI-powered platforms that automate onboarding, underwriting, and risk assessment for financial institutions using a proprietary dataset covering over 700 million businesses across 200+ countries.^[3] Worth AI raised $30 million in Series A funding in 2024.^[3]

Madhani was named to Fortune's 40 Under 40 list in 2020, recognized in the finance and fintech category.^[4] She received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award as a regional winner in 2021.^[7] PaymentSource recognized her as one of the Most Influential Women in Payments in 2018.^[7] In 2024, Inc. Magazine included her in their 100 Female Founders list.^[7]

As a keynote speaker, Madhani addresses topics including female entrepreneurship, fintech innovation, and overcoming funding challenges for women-led startups.^[7] She has appeared on podcasts including the Jay Shetty Show, where she discussed the common reasons why founders fail and strategies for entrepreneurial success.^[5]