In this piece, we will take a look at the 15 biggest payment companies in the world. For more companies, head on over to 5 Biggest Payment Companies in the World.
The advent of the Internet has revolutionized business and created new technologies for people to conduct their daily lives. One such area is business, where firms now have access to a global workforce that lets them offshore their tasks to employees in other countries to save up on costs. At the same time, firms can collect their payments digitally as well, which reduces the need of keeping cash at hand for both them and the consumer.
At the heart of this facilitation is the payments processing industry. This industry started up along with the internet, as PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) became one of the first firms that disrupted the traditional banking model and enabled users to make and accept payments over the Internet. Since then, both traditional players and new entrants have entered into the market. As a result, the global payments industry was worth a whopping $92 billion in 2021 according to research from Precedence Research. From this, it is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.49% until 2030, by the end of which the firm believes it will have an estimated market value of $572 billion.
Within the market, there are a couple of trends that are contributing to its growth. These include the widespread adoption of smartphones, which provide users with a convenient way to manage their finances by easily accessing the Internet and using software applications. Additionally, and particularly as the coronavirus pandemic demonstrated, the demand for online shopping is immense, due to the convenience offered in both browsing through items and receiving them without having to leave the comfort of one’s home. Zooming in on different industry segments, the one dealing with plastic currency or debit cards forms the largest segment, and companies are also increasingly starting to rely on the use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence to weed out fraudulent activities on their platform. Artificial intelligence, as futuristic as it sounds, is simply an advanced form of linear regression that reaches conclusions about a set of data points by either using pre-fed parameters or evaluating new data sets. Within fraud detection, this generally involves taking a database of previously fraudulent transactions, and using their specific parameters, such as frequency, amount, and location, to train the algorithm for future events.
Accounting and financial firm Deloitte takes a deeper look within the industry to further closely analyze what lies in the future for this disruptive and critical sector. It explains that instantaneous – or real time – payment processing will continue to expand in the U.S. as it will expand its coverage to also include business to business and business to consumer use cases. These involve areas such as payroll processing and more. Deloitte adds that the growth of gig economies is also fueling digital payments since workers in several areas do not have access to the traditional financial system such as banking accounts. Deloitte adds that a crucial market area that is gaining traction these days is one where companies act as an intermediary between a bank that has issued a plastic currency card and the merchant that is accepting payments from the card.
As the industry starts to mature and more firms enter, existing players are looking at means to improve their customer relationships to retain market share. This was also on PayPal’s chief executive officer (CEO) Mr. Daniel Schulman’s mind as he explained the steps that his firm is taking to improve the customer shopping experience and improve the ease with which they can carry out transactions with each other. Mr. Schulman’s comments came during his company’s earnings call for its fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2022 as he outlined:
We are putting significant resources behind the modernization of our checkout experience in order to defend and grow our market share in our branded checkout business. This includes a drive towards passwordless, one click native in-app experiences as well as deploying the next generation of advanced checkout using our data and AI capabilities. Although this will be a multiyear initiative and will take time given the scale of our base and our legacy integrations, I am extremely pleased with the progress we made last year. We will continue to deliver scaled growth for Braintree. And last year, we made significant progress in modernizing our architecture and capabilities. These improvements resulted in a substantial number of new sales and incremental volume from existing accounts.
In addition, we have an impressive pipeline of opportunity for 2023. In the first half of this year, we intend to fully ramp our unbranded offering to small and midsized businesses, either directly or through channel partners. The launch of PPCP, or PayPal Complete Payments, will meaningfully expand our unbranded total addressable market by as much as $750 billion, and enables us to drive incremental share with higher margins than our Braintree Enterprise service. On the consumer side, we’ll continue to enhance our digital wallet value proposition. We are focused on the end-to-end customer experience, from onboarding to the entirety of the consumer life cycle, utilizing more advanced forms of AI to drive optimal consumer choices. In the past two years, we have introduced a significant number of products and services.
Today, we’ll look at some of the largest payment companies in the world, with the top picks being Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL).
Our Methodology
We compiled all publicly traded firms that provide customers with the ability to make and accept payments. These were then ranked by their revenue, and the top picks are listed below.
15 Biggest Payment Companies in the World
15. EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVOP)
Trailing Twelve Month Revenue: $543 million
EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVOP) is a fintech company that offers point of sale terminals for credit and debit card use. It is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVOP) scored a $9.64 million investment from Mario Gabelli’s Gabelli Funds recently according to a February 2023 SEC filing. As part of their December quarter of 2022 investments, 28 of the 943 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had bought its shares.
EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVOP)’s largest investor is James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management which owns 2.1 million shares that are worth $72 million.
Along with American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL), EVO Payments, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVOP) is one of the biggest payment companies in the world.
14. Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BILL)
Trailing Twelve Month Revenue: $857 million
Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BILL) is an American company that offers a cloud based payments platform. It also allows firms to manage their working capital digitally. The firm is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BILL) is facing the heat from the inflationary environment, as the firm revealed in February 2023 that customer spending is deviating from normal levels. 58 of the 943 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey in Q4 2022 had bought the firm’s shares.
Bill.com Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BILL)’s largest investor is Panayotis Takis Sparaggis’s Alkeon Capital Management which owns 1.9 million shares that are worth $215 million.
13. Edenred SA (EPA:EDEN.PA)
Trailing Twelve Month Revenue: $2.12 billion (1EUR = 1.06USD)
Edenred SA (EPA:EDEN.PA) is a French company that provides payments processing services and products to other businesses. The firm enables its customers to make transactions with each other and manage and provide employee benefits. The company is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.
12. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)
Trailing Twelve Month Revenue: $3.35 billion
Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) is a diversified firm that serves the needs of corporate and retail customers such as financial institutions and other companies. It enables them to transfer funds, make digital payments, and avail ATM services.
Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) scored a win last year, as SEC filing in February 2023 revealed that Oppenheimer had bought an $866,500 stake in the firm. Insider Monkey’s December quarter of 2022 survey revealed that 30 out of 943 hedge funds had bought the firm’s shares.
Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT)’s largest investor is Robert Karr’s Joho Capital which owns 413,659 shares that are worth $39 million.
11. The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)
Trailing Twelve Month Revenue: $4.47 billion
The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, companies on our list since it was set up in 1851. The firm allows customers to digitally make cross border transactions from the comfort of their home or office.
The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) is expanding its digital arm, as it announced a new ‘send now, pay later’ service in February 2023. Insider Monkey took a look at 943 hedge fund portfolios for last year’s fourth quarter and found out that 28 had bought its shares.
Out of these, Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management is The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)’s largest investor. It owns 6.6 million shares that are worth $90 million.
10. Worldline SA (EPA:WLN.PA)
Trailing Twelve Month Revenue: $4.62 billion (1EUR = 1.06USD)
Worldline SA (EPA:WLN.PA) is a French company headquartered in Puteaux, France. The firm provides a variety of services such as payments processing, ATM management, transaction authentication, software licensing, and traceability.
9. Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)
Trailing Twelve Month Revenue: $8.98 billion
Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) provides financial services to those not covered by the traditional finance system, merchants, and others. It is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) expanded its operational presence in February 2023 as it announced a new deal with the sports teams Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Braves. 52 of the 943 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey in Q4 2022 had bought the firm’s shares.
Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)’s largest investor in our database is William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management which owns 6.3 million shares that are worth $631 million.
8. Adyen N.V. (AMS:ADYEN.AS)
Trailing Twelve Month Revenue: $9.44 billion (1EUR = 1.06USD)
Adyen N.V. (AMS:ADYEN.AS) is a Dutch firm headquartered in Amsterdam. It offers a platform allowing firms to organize their payments, transactions, risk management, and other functions. The firm has a global presence, in regions such as Europe, North America, and Asia.
7. Stripe, Inc.
Latest Revenue: $14.3 billion
Stripe, Inc. is a financial services firm headquartered in both the U.S. and in Ireland. It provides software products enabling firms to integrate payment processing capabilities into their digital properties. Stripe, Inc. also provides merchants with point of sale terminals.
6. Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)
Trailing Twelve Month Revenue: $17.5 billion
Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) is a financial technology firm allowing customers to accept payments and run analytics. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) received some reprieve in February 2023 when an ongoing lawsuit against the company was halted since another class action suit is currently underway against the firm. By the end of Q4 2022, 70 of the 943 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had bought the firm’s shares.
Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)’s largest investor in our database is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management which owns 11.3 million shares that are worth $713 million.
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ), American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) are some of the biggest payment companies in the world.
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Disclosure: None. 15 Biggest Payment Companies in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.
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