Manchester Fintech Orchestr Named Finalist for ‘Global StartUp of the Year’ in 2026 UK StartUp Awards

Orchestr, the pioneer of the AI Payment Manager category, has been officially shortlisted as a finalist for Global StartUp of the Year at the 2026 North West StartUp Awards.

Selected from a record-breaking pool of over 2,100 entrants across the UK, the shortlisting recognizes Orchestr’s rapid growth and its role in redefining the next chapter of payment intelligence for international merchants.

Founded in 2025 with dual headquarters in Manchester and Sofia, Orchestr is moving the industry beyond passive “payment orchestration” toward an agentic, AI-native infrastructure. Their platform acts as an autonomous intelligence layer, helping high-complexity merchants solve the friction of global commerce by automating smart routing, retry logic, and data unified from hundreds of payment methods.

Angel Gechev, CEO & Co-Founder of Orchestr, commented: “Being named a finalist for Global StartUp of the Year is a powerful validation of the shift we are seeing in the market. The industry is outgrowing traditional tools; today’s global merchants need an AI Payment Manager that can actively recover revenue and manage performance in real-time. This recognition proves that our vision for an intelligent, autonomous payments symphony is the future of global commerce.”

The regional finals will take place in June 2026, where winners will be selected to represent the North West at the national final held during Ideas Fest (the “Glastonbury for Business”) in September.

As Orchestr continues to scale transaction volumes and prove the efficacy of the AI Payment Manager category, this shortlisting serves as a milestone in their mission to eliminate the 20-25% global payment failure rate that costs merchants billions in lost revenue annually.