Payment service providers competing to serve small and medium-sized businesses have a new opportunity to win them over with cutting-edge payment, cash flow, capital, and marketing tools.

Its falling valuation and tapering growth show that payment firms must work harder to build volume and attract customers.

Its valuation took another big dip, but the raise could encourage other cash-hungry fintechs. Stripe’s OpenAI tie-in can open doors for both firms.

Consumer device and behavior trends are affecting payment providers’ strategies across retail, P2P, B2B, disbursement, and cross-border channels. Here’s what that means for the payments ecosystem.

This second installment of the “Payments Ecosystem” collection unpacks how point-of-sale (POS) hardware, software, and payment gateway services are becoming increasingly intertwined as merchants adapt to economic turmoil and consumer payment changes.

Economic uncertainty and rapid technological innovation are shifting industry dynamics for players across the payments ecosystem, including acquirers and processors, networks, and issuers.

It launched Tap to Pay on Android a year after it signed on to deploy Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone—helping feed demand for softPOS and contactless payments.

The Web3 opportunity is real, but it’s tempered by misconceptions and little-understood risks. Financial services providers must first understand what Web3 really means to avoid disintermediation by fintechs and first-mover incumbents.

Becoming Amazon’s strategic payments partner in the US, Canada, and Europe can help Stripe bolster its processing business.

Will tech have learned its lesson during economic recovery? A mild recession in 2023 could give rise to tech’s recovery during the second half of the year. Expect industry caution.

Veterans Affairs wants to be ‘best place’ for laid-off tech workers: Tech layoffs increased in November, but other sectors have a window of opportunity to scoop them up.

The firm introduced a crypto payments onramp to facilitate purchases for web3 platforms despite recent crypto turmoil.

Activist investor pressures Salesforce to slash staff: A string of tech layoffs last week follows the Fed’s interest rate hike. But tech talent scavengers should keep companies on their toes.

AI is moving fast and might break things: Keen Technologies’ goal for human-like AI is part of a trend that’s triggered an ethical AI backlash. But there’s a common-ground approach.

Stripe cut its internal valuation by 28%, but we look at why it’s still better off than other tech startups.

Revolut is using Stripe’s infrastructure for payment processing in the UK and Europe and to support global expansion.

Klarna is staring down a potential 85% valuation cut—here’s what fintechs will have to contend with in H2.

A new Frontier for startups: A handful of startups just got funding to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Using carbon as a raw material could help them reach market viability.

Stripe launched its in-store POS system in Singapore as the wider region sees growing digital payment use and demand for unified commerce.

By 2026, nearly 30% of US consumers’ average retail spending (excluding food and beverage sales and ticketing) will be made using proximity mobile payments, as providers look to build on the pandemic-driven adoption of the technology.