“Can a vertical two-sided marketplace for musicians own the full commerce stack — payments, financing, shipping protection, identity — well enough to defend against eBay and Amazon?”
Reverb was founded in 2013 by David Kalt after he bought Chicago Music Exchange and became frustrated with existing options for buying/selling gear. Built as a vertical two-sided marketplace for musicians, it rapidly layered embedded finance (Affirm BNPL in 2015, in-house Reverb Payments) to drive AOV and seller liquidity. Acquired by Etsy in 2019 for $275M as a vertical commerce bet, then divested in 2025 to Creator Partners and Servco — refocusing as an independent, music-vertical marketplace.
Reverb processes payments through Adyen, Reverb Payments (self-operated) and PayPal.
Reverb uses Trulioo for KYC and identity verification.
Reverb's lending and capital products are provided by Affirm and PayPal Pay Later.
Reverb connects to bank accounts through Plaid.
Reverb uses Adyen for FX and cross-border payouts.
Reverb's embedded insurance is provided by XCover.
Reverb integrates with QuickBooks.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 7 layers in Reverb's stack: Payments / PSP (Adyen, Reverb Payments (self-operated) and PayPal); Lending (Affirm and PayPal Pay Later); Insurance (XCover); Open banking (Plaid); KYC (Trulioo); FX & payouts (Adyen); Accounting (QuickBooks).
Reverb was founded by David Kalt and is founded in 2013, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, U.S..
Reverb has raised $25M+ (pre-acquisition) in total (latest round: Acquired by Creator Partners and Servco (2025); valuation: $275M (2019 Etsy acquisition)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Reverb and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.