By Bill Clerico, CEO and Co-founder

It’s a cliché to say that startups are rollercoasters.

But it’s a cliché because it’s true. The past 9 years have been the most intense of my life. The WePay team has navigated pivots, faced near-death experiences, celebrated marriages & babies, posted big wins, raised millions, forged company-defining partnerships, welcomed new faces, and mourned the losses of colleagues and friends.

We’ve processed a lot of payments too – helping countless small businesses get paid faster and easier, and helping people and causes raise billions for those in need.

Through it all, the WePay community and its commitment to each other has elevated the highs and bound us together in the lows. For that, I am eternally thankful to the amazing and unique group of people I am so privileged to call colleagues. Of all the titles I’m fortunate to hold, teammate is my favorite.

Today, I’m excited because we’re beginning a new chapter in the WePay journey. We are beginning the work to combine our talent and technology with the capabilities, brand and distribution of one of the world’s largest and most respected financial institutions: JPMorgan Chase & Co. (press release)

With Chase behind us, we’ll continue to focus on serving the unique needs of software platforms, with a team that will double in size over the next year. We’ll quickly become one of the most well-financed payments technology companies in the world – and beyond that, we’ll serve as a platform for Chase to grow its footprint in fintech and Silicon Valley, all while continuing to operate with autonomy under the WePay name. Rich, myself, and all of the WePay team are continuing on with us – and we’re hiring!

With new resources and capabilities behind us, we can serve the needs of our customers even better, simultaneously growing and nurturing the special culture that defines us, and helping one of the world’s largest financial institutions offer best-in-class payment technology.

There’s a lot to do in this next chapter. But there are also more than a few Thank Yous to offer as we reflect on this milestone:

Humans of WePay, PVD/RWC/Remote, past and present: We’ve spent the better part of the last decade building a team of not just talented, but also incredibly kind and fun-loving people. Both we and Chase couldn’t be more committed to preserving and growing that culture going forward. Thank you for trusting Rich and I with your livelihoods and for giving so much of yourselves day in and day out. Thanks for your commitment, for your values and for being what makes our business special.

Platform Partners: We couldn’t have done it without you – and we look forward to serving you with more resources, greater scale, and some exciting new capabilities (stay tuned!). Thank you for your partnership, and for trusting us with such an important part of your business.

Our Investors: You are not only shareholders, but also mentors and friends. You believed in two 23 year-olds who offered little at first besides enthusiasm and a willingness to work hard. Thank you for always doing the right thing, for supporting us when things weren’t great, and for pushing us harder when they were. Silicon Valley, for all its faults, is still an amazing place – and we feel so privileged to have been a part of an ecosystem that rewards risk-taking, innovation and hard work with opportunity.

The team at JPMorgan Chase: Over the past year, we’ve come to know you as a company filled with customer-centric, forward-thinking, authentic and hard-working people. With that as a foundation for our joint culture and a bold vision for the future of integrated payments, we couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity in front of this team. Thanks for being great partners who are committed to not just the success of our business, but also our customers and people.

Thanks for reading and celebrating this milestone with us. Did I mention we’re hiring?