Checkout.com Hits $300B Volume and Returns to Profitability as Agentic Commerce Looms
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Checkout.com just flipped the script.
After years of “growth at all costs” headlines across FinTech, the company processed over $300B in 2025, up 64% YoY, and returned to full-year EBITDA profitability with margins above 10%.
That alone shifts the narrative. Net revenue grew 30%+ for the second consecutive year. 1,000+ enterprise merchants. 63 now processing over $1B annually.
Scale with discipline.
But what really stood out to me is where they’re heading next...
Agentic commerce: Checkout.com is already live with Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol and supporting Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard’s AgentPay framework.
Founder & CEO at Checkout.com, Guillaume Pousaz, said it clearly: “A single, unified infrastructure would ultimately outmatch patched-together legacy systems.”
This feels bigger than a strong earnings year, from digital payments… to AI-native commerce infrastructure. If you'd like to delve deeper into the topic, I've included the 2025 annual letter throughout the newsletter. It's worth checking out!
How about checking out all of today's industry news? 👇 Scroll down and take a look. I'll be back tomorrow with all the latest news.
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
➡️ 15M-User Neobank Authenticates 92% of Instant Payments Frictionlessly using Incognia’s Device & Location Intelligence. Incognia adds a crucial layer beyond device validation by recognising users in the physical world. This real-world context helps combat social engineering in real-time payments like Pix, while preserving a seamless customer experience.
FINTECH NEWS
🇸🇻 Become San Salvador's FRC Co-host and lead the FinTech Run with Bea Hernandez! 🏃➡️ Sign up here!
🇩🇪 BBVA’s app is now available on ChatGPT in Germany and Italy. The app is designed to handle informational queries, enabling ChatGPT users to explore BBVA’s offering in both countries by asking questions in natural language, simply and intuitively, without leaving ChatGPT.
🇺🇸 Payoneer files application for U.S. National Trust Bank charter to strengthen regulated financial infrastructure for global businesses. This application is a critical next step in Payoneer's strategy to integrate stablecoin capabilities into its global payments ecosystem, connecting stablecoin efficiency to the local economies where nearly two million customers operate.
🇺🇸 RemotePass expands FinTech offering with corporate expense cards for remote teams. With its official launch, RemotePass addresses long-standing issues with expense management for multinational companies by being the first global payroll platform to provide expense cards developed particularly for remote workers working across borders.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇬🇧 Checkout.com returns to full-year profitability and surpasses $300B in volume, as it positions for the era of agentic commerce. Checkout.com announced a return to full-year EBITDA profitability and record-breaking volume in 2025, validating its long-view strategy centred on a strong core business, a high-performance culture, and capital reinvestment into key growth markets.
🇬🇧 Incard secures EMI Licence to continue its mission of building the financial operating system for digital entrepreneurs. CEO Theo Cesarini said the licence enables Incard to accelerate its mission of streamlining financial tools, such as banking, corporate cards, cash flow management, and invoicing, into a unified platform for digital entrepreneurs.
🇺🇸 Bolt taps Toffee to bring global payment infrastructure to game studios and app developers. Under the agreement, Bolt will refer game and app developers to Toffee for Merchant of Record services, giving those developers a single infrastructure partner to handle tax collection and remittance, local payment methods, regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, and global settlement across more than 190 countries.
🇺🇸 HK-based stablecoin payments firm RedotPay is said to consider a $1 billion US IPO. RedotPay is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. on a listing that could take place in New York as soon as this year.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇬🇧 Inside Nik Storonsky’s $75bn FinTech empire, still waiting for its crown. Last November, the digital bank reached a $75 billion valuation, underscoring its rise as a major challenger to traditional UK banking giants and fueling Storonsky’s ambition to build a $100 billion financial powerhouse.
🇬🇧 Ex-Revolut staff allegedly threatens KYC data leak. Revolut has confirmed it reported an alleged extortion attempt by a former employee after a customer claimed they were threatened with a leak of sensitive KYC information unless a cryptocurrency ransom was paid.
🇰🇷 Kbank draws $7.3 bn in pre-IPO deposits ahead of planned KOSPI debut. The bank wrapped up a three-day pre-IPO offering to retail investors, posting a subscription competition ratio of 136 to 1. About 9.85 trillion won ($7.3 billion) in deposits were raised, with 836,599 subscription accounts recorded.
🇺🇸 Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO, sees parallels to the pre-crisis era. Dimon said he's starting to see parallels to the era before the 2008 financial crisis, when a rush to make loans ended disastrously. He expects the credit cycle to eventually sour again, though he is not sure when, and said he sees a couple of people doing "dumb things" to create net interest income.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🌍 Tether-backed crypto exchange Bit2Me is ditching the ‘retail’ label to build the secret plumbing for Europe’s biggest banks. Bit2Me secured an EU MiCA license and is expanding into new markets, including Portugal and Italy initially, with plans for a further rollout in France and Germany.
🇺🇸 Binance denies firing investigators over reported $1.7 billion crypto flows to Iran. Binance denied reports saying it fired several internal investigators after they uncovered sanctions violations linked to Iran. Reports claim that internal investigators discovered that a substantial amount of crypto flowed into Iranian entities through Binance accounts.
🇺🇸 Chainlink's Taylor Lindman joins the SEC as Chief Counsel for Crypto Task Force. Since its formation last year, the crypto task force has embarked on multiple roundtable discussions to figure out how to regulate different aspects of the industry, including tokenisation and decentralised finance.
🇺🇸 Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is planning a stablecoin comeback in the second half of this year. Meta is planning to integrate a vendor to help administer stablecoin-backed payments and implement a new wallet. Meta has sent out a product request (RFP) to third-party firms and mentioned Stripe as a likely candidate for piloting Meta’s stablecoin.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇬🇧 Jupiter and Noah partner to bring neobank features to Jupiter Global, making crypto feel like banking, and banking feel like crypto for 50+ million users. By integrating Noah’s regulated banking infrastructure directly into this ecosystem, the platform can now operate as a neobank.
🌍 Triple-A strengthens cross-border payment infrastructure with Mastercard Move. By integrating Mastercard Move’s advanced cross-border payment solutions into its remittance-as-a-service platform, Triple-A will enable its European customers to launch global remittance services with secure, near real-time payouts, delivering faster settlement and improved liquidity.
🌏 Mastercard launches protected monsters campaign with Sticky Monster Lab. The campaign blends AI-powered motion capture, KOL-led education storytelling, and shareable digital assets to bring Mastercard’s behind-the-scenes security capabilities to life across Southeast Asia.
🇨🇷 Thunes and Banco Cathay of Costa Rica launch pay-to-wallet payments via SWIFT. This innovative solution transforms the reach and efficiency of Banco Cathay’s cross-border offering, enabling seamless digital disbursements to markets where mobile wallets are the dominant payment method.
🇮🇱 Thredd powers MuchBetter’s expansion into Israel. Through the partnership, Thredd is providing processing infrastructure for MuchBetter’s prepaid card and digital wallet programme, enabling consumers in Israel to securely load funds and make payments using physical and virtual cards, with additional form factors planned as the programme scales.
🌍 Wero announces bunq as its latest member. By partnering with bunq, which operates as one of Europe's neobanks, Wero extends its reach to a digitally active customer base that conducts payments primarily through mobile and app-based channels.
🇺🇸 Fiserv embarks on strategic AI partnerships to fuel recovery. Fiserv is launching a concerted artificial intelligence initiative aimed at reigniting its growth trajectory. The company's strategic focus has shifted from stabilisation to expansion, with newly formed alliances serving as the cornerstone of this effort.
🇺🇸 Zycus launches Zycus Pay in partnership with TransferMate to deliver embedded B2B payments. Zycus Pay allows customers to pay suppliers in more than 140 currencies across 200+ countries and territories through multiple methods, including Instant, ACH, Same-Day ACH, Domestic Wire, and International Wire.
🇺🇸 Paysafe announces partnership with Spreedly. Under the partnership, Spreedly’s global payments orchestration platform has integrated Paysafe as an acquirer to process credit card and debit card payments for online merchants targeting Europe, North America, and other international markets.
🇧🇴 TerraPay partners with Banco Ganadero to enable 24/7 real-time cross-border payments processing in Bolivia. Through this collaboration, Bolivians living abroad can send funds to Bolivia quickly, securely, and with real-time availability. Payments can be credited to any bank in Bolivia through the ACH system.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
💰 Last week was somewhat quiet for European FinTech. There were four deals in Europe, totalling €61.9m in disclosed funding, including two transactions in the UK, one in the Netherlands, and one in Germany.
🇮🇳 Indian FinTech startup Kreditbee plans $120m pre-IPO raise. The funding round is expected to be led by an external investor, with existing investors also contributing additional capital. Read more
🇮🇱 Hypercore raises $13.5 million Series A to automate private credit operations. The capital will be used to develop AI-based management agents and to launch what the company describes as a new category in lending services, combining Hypercore’s loan management technology with artificial intelligence.
🇮🇳 Stripe and PayPal Ventures bet on India’s Xflow to fix cross-border B2B payments. The startup plans to deploy the new capital toward building additional products on top of its core payments infrastructure and securing regulatory licenses in new markets.
🇵🇹 BCP injects €90 million into digital bank ActivoBank to accelerate growth. ActivoBank aims to exceed 700,000 active customers, pointing to 75% growth compared to its current 400,000 customers, more than BCP itself expects to attract in the same period, between 150,000 and 200,000 new customers.
🇺🇸 Stripe publishes 2025 annual letter and announces tentative offer to provide liquidity to current and former employees. Businesses running on Stripe generated $1.9 trillion in total volume, up 34% from 2024, and equivalent to roughly 1.6% of global GDP.
M&A
🇲🇽 General Atlantic to acquire equity stake in Banamex. General Atlantic plans to partner with Banamex and the enhanced broader shareholder group to support the Company’s continued growth as a leading financial institution in Mexico. Read more
🇮🇳 Capillary Technologies to acquire Mastercard's SessionM for $20 million. The deal will add $35 million in ARR, boosting Capillary’s current $82 million. SessionM serves more than 40 enterprise customers, including Fortune 500 companies, adding major airlines, airports, and QSR chains to Capillary’s portfolio.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇪🇸 Gin Gindre, new Chief Commercial Officer of Oney Spain. Gindre's objective will be to expand Oney's presence in the B2B market, attract and consolidate new partners, strengthen the relationship and loyalty with current partners, maximise the efficiency of financing solutions, and contribute to the profitable and sustainable growth of the business.
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