Behind the Scenes of UpGate’s Product: Smart Payments, Real Results

At UpGate, product development isn’t just about building features; it’s about removing friction from global payments. Since joining the company in March 2022, Alexey Maximov (Alex Max) has been at the core of that mission, helping merchants increase approval rates, reduce failed payments, and scale smarter.

“I’m responsible for developing and evolving our payment orchestration platform, from integrating new PSPs and optimizing checkout, to implementing features that drive conversion and streamline merchant onboarding.”

Alex Max -Head of Product

Let’s take a closer look at how UpGate is turning complexity into performance, and what’s next for the platform in 2025.

How does UpGate’s product help merchants improve checkout conversion rates and reduce payment failures?

UpGate acts as a smart orchestration layer between merchants and multiple payment providers, enabling better performance and flexibility without additional integration efforts. Specifically, we help increase conversion through:

• Routing rules: Transactions are routed to the provider most likely to approve them, based on data like issuer country, card type, payment type, etc.

• Automatic retries: Failed attempts can be reprocessed with another PSP or with different parameters.

• Advanced 3DS capabilities: Since we operate our own MPI provider, we can flexibly manage 3DS flows — using both challenge and frictionless options depending on the transaction context. This helps reduce fraud risk while maintaining a smooth user experience.

Transparent analytics: Merchants can easily see what works, what doesn’t, and why — enabling fast, data-driven decisions.

What are the biggest challenges businesses face when managing multiple payment service providers (PSPs), and how does UpGate solve them?

Here are some of the key challenges we see:

• Fragmented APIs: Every PSP has its own way of doing things, and maintaining multiple integrations is costly.

• Inconsistent data: Each provider has its own reporting logic, which makes reconciliation and analysis difficult.

• Operational overhead: Adding new providers, updating rules, or switching strategies usually takes time and resources.

UpGate simplifies this by:

• Offering a unified API that works across providers.

• Providing centralized management tools for routing, 3DS, fraud rules, and reporting.

Making it easy to test and switch providers without changes to your codebase.

Before another batch of technical questions, let's dive into some personal questions:

If UpGate were a band, what role would you play: lead singer, drummer, guitarist, or bassist?

I’d be the producer, the one who sets the rhythm behind the scenes. I try to shape the sound of the product so the “band” plays in sync and confidently, even if no one sees who’s behind the arrangement.

What’s a recent book, podcast, or movie that inspired your thinking about innovation or leadership?

A recent book that really resonated with me is The Venture Mindset. It reframes how a company should think about its position in the market: if you want to matter, you have to become the number one or number two solution in your category. That level of ambition is essential for innovation.

What’s one product (tech or not) you can’t live without, and why?

Slack. It’s where everything happens, product updates, team sync, random insights. Without it, I’d feel like I lost the operating system of my workday.

What’s your weirdest productivity hack or work ritual?

I block 1–2 hours every day as “silent focus”, no calls, no messages, just thinking and writing. That’s when the best product ideas emerge.

Can you explain how smart routing and automatic retries work in UpGate’s platform?

Smart routing is a flexible rule engine that determines the best provider or strategy for each transaction. These rules can be based on:

• Card type or brand

• Issuer country

• Currency

• Payment type, whether it’s a one-time purchase or a recurring subscription

• Merchant-specific business logic

Automatic retries are triggered when an initial attempt fails. We can:

• Re-route to another PSP

• Modify the authentication method or transaction parameters

• Retry with timing logic, based on the reason for failure

This significantly improves approval rates and reduces manual intervention.

What features make UpGate’s payment orchestration platform stand out in a competitive fintech landscape?

A few things set us apart:

1. Speed of integration — we can connect new PSPs in days, not weeks.

2. Infrastructure flexibility — our system can adapt to specific merchant use cases with minimal friction.

3. Regional focus — we localize features and behavior based on market needs.

4. Visibility and transparency — our dashboards and logs give merchants full control and insight.

5. Future readiness — we invest in building scalable architecture and features that anticipate global trends.

How do you balance product innovation with regulatory compliance in global payments?

It’s a continuous balancing act. We build innovation on a foundation of:

• Built-in compliance — PCI DSS and 3DS support are part of our core architecture.

• Modular design — features can be adjusted or turned off depending on local rules.

• Internal checks — new features go through compliance and legal review to ensure we meet the necessary standards in every market we operate in.

What’s next for UpGate’s product roadmap?

Some of the key initiatives we’re working on include:

• Expanding alternative payment methods across more regions

• Support for network tokens

• External tax calculation support for U.S.-based merchants

• Reconciliation tooling (automated matching of transactions, settlements, fees)

• Improved alerting system, especially around RDR (Rapid Dispute Resolution) and Ethoca chargeback alerts

These are all aimed at helping our merchants scale globally while reducing friction and risk.

Ready to Rethink Your Payment Strategy?

If you’re juggling multiple PSPs, struggling with failed transactions, or scaling across borders, UpGate is built for you.

Smart routing, seamless retries, powerful analytics, and rapid integrations, all with compliance and control built in.

👉 Book a demo today and see how UpGate can orchestrate smarter payments for your business.