BigPay 

Committed to our vision, our people and our customers. Rising to the challenge everyday.

Always happy to help,
Let's grow! 💪💙💪

Chief Product Officer

Chapter 3: Path to Profitability. 

Set Product culture, structures, and product operating model that allow us to improve Product Efficiency across 5+ squads in order to transition to scale up mode and reach profitability. 

Co-Led our Embedded Finance solution with one of our superstar PMs. 

Trained and coached the Product team.

Principal, Product Ways of Working

Chapter 2: Growth at All Cost. 

Led key strategic initiatives including Payout Payments APIs, Engagement and Gamification, Ministry of Finance initiatives for financial inclusion, 

Set the Product foundations for Thailand Market Expansion.

Product Lead

Chapter 1: From Zero to One. 

Built BigPay Product from scratch to multiple Geos and Business Lines, including Payments, Analytics & Remittances, across Singapore and Malaysia reaching 1 Million downloads. 

Built a strong Product and Design team of twelve and the foundations of BigPays Product Culture and Processes across the organization.

Head of Product

Purpose Driven Fintech

I speak with Founders, CEOs, and CPOs to understand the challenges of our industry and how to better build products and FinTechs with impact across customers, colleagues and profitability

I release new episodes every Tuesday and you can listen or watch in YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your favourite platform

Reach out to be part of the pod

Podcast Host 

PayEd - Education in Payments

Advisory Board Member

Connecting the dots in FinTech...

APAC Newsletter Contributor & News Curator

Tandem Bank

Consultant, CEO Office

Service Design Delivery Manager, CEO Office

- First member of the Banking Products team. Employee num. 18th. 
- Led credit cards design and implementation from zero to pilot launch

Product Manager, Banking Products

barclaycard

Product and Propsositions Manager Small Business Cards

Existing Customer Manager Small Business Cards

Visa

Global Client Sales Account Manager, CEMEA

Banco del Ahorro Nacional y Servicios Financieros BANSEFI

Product Development Manager

Empowering FinTech Product Leaders to navigate complexity with purpose, passion, and impactful conversations for inclusive financial well-being I Join to connect, learn, and lead the industry forward.🚀

Hello 👋 I’m a hands-on product leader with a proven track record of building and scaling digital banking solutions across multiple geographies.  I am mission driven (because money has been a pain point, and it didn’t have to be like that).

I thrive at the intersection of a fast-paced entrepreneurial culture, customer centricity, and solving real problems with actual impact.

*Results Oriented*

At BigPay, one of Southeast Asia's largest NeoBanks, I’ve helped steer our product through three critical phases: Zero to One, Growth at All Costs, and now, sustainable Path to Profitability - growing the customer base to over 1.37 million users. We are known mainly as a travel solution and increasingly becoming a day to day app. 

My expertise spans from product design, delivery and growth, team building, and driving the cultural shift and ways of working necessary to go from startup to scaleup. 

At Tandem Bank, I helped build from scratch, and worked with Tandem's CEO on strategic initiatives and Board management. 

*Achievements & Impact*

1. Product Growth & Innovation: 

Led the development of credit cards, BigPay’s prepaid card with its app, remittances, a payments API, an embedded finance solution for airasia, and engagement initiatives to meet evolving needs.

2. Strategic Planning: 

Collaborated with the CEO and ExCo to shape product strategy, aligning squads on growth, innovation goals, OKRs, and resource planning.

3. Expansion: 

Launched BigPay’s product in Malaysia, Singapore, and empowered teams to launch in Thailand. 

4. Cultural Transformation: 

Established a strong Product Operating Model, guiding BigPay’s shift from startup to scaleup.

5. Team Building: 

Recruited and mentored a high-performing product and design team, setting a scalable foundation.

*Knowledge Sharing*

I host the Purpose Driven FinTech podcast, where I interview FinTech Founders, CEOs, and leaders on how to build differentiated FinTech products that drive 10x impact. We cover customer needs, solving pain points, and leadership insights.

I’m keen to explore:
- Incorporating AI into existing workflows
- Building AI-powered products
- Staying at the forefront of AI innovations

I’m recognized as one of Singapore’s #Fintech65 Product Leaders and Women in FinTech, I’ve spoken at Money2020, and am an active mentor for women in Fintech and new to FinTech.

*Let’s Connect*
 
If you’re a leader, founder, or innovator passionate about transforming FinTech and driving real impact—I’d love to chat!

We can ideate, collaborate, podcast, mentor & coach.

Monica

Monica Millares 🎙️

Marcel van Oost

Founder/CEO 

Connecting the dots in FinTech...

The largest FinTech community in the world of 100k+ FinTech Fanatics!

Join here: https://www.connectingthedotsinfin.tech

Founder

FinTech Running Club

Whether you're a seasoned runner or just starting out, the FinTech Running Club is the perfect place to connect with like-minded professionals who share your enthusiasm for both running and FinTech.

Connecting the dots in payments...

Founder & News Editor

Choice Financial

Choice Fin provides thoughtful and tailored global banking services. An accomplished BaaS sponsor bank since 2017, Choice Fin provides a wide array of financial and technological solutions guided by a #PeopleFirst mission. 

Choice Fin is a part of Choice Bank, a community bank dedicated to enhancing the quality of life and economic viability of families and businesses.

Treinta

Investor

Mozper

Lana

Sokin

Penta Network

Advisor

Nufi (Techstars Western Union 2021)

Advisor and Investor

Email for brand collaboration: bonjour @ marcelvanoost.nl 

About me:

What do I want to become when I grow up? That's a question I asked myself for a long time. My childhood dream, playing for Ajax, was soon out of the question (I wasn’t even close…). So what's next? 

I studied Communication & Media, dropped out, and started working at an Acquiring Bank.

After these first steps in the Payments Industry I founded a Payments consultancy business, followed by a Collecting Payment Service Provider, with an exit in 2017. 

Nowadays I'm back in (FinTech-) Media, and invest as an Angel Investor in FinTech startups on the side.

NO, I don't do any speaker gigs, podcasts, webinars etc. 

I DO share the latest FinTech Industry trends and news updates here on Linkedin, and in my daily newsletter. 👉 Get the most important FinTech news and analysis in a 5 minute daily briefing you’ll actually look forward to reading, by signing up here: https://www.connectingthedotsinfin.tech

🚨𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: Revolut to open its first Branch in Greece by the end of the year.

Targeting 2 million Greek 🇬🇷 users by 2026. 

With local IBANs, a physical branch, and even mortgage loans on the roadmap.

Revolut is preparing to shake up the Greek banking market even further: according to information from powergame.gr, the neobank plans to open a physical branch in Greece by the end of this year or early next year. 

The company has already informed the Bank of Greece about its plans, which also include issuing Greek IBANs to new customers. Existing Greek users with Lithuanian IBANs will be migrated to Greek IBANs as well.

The decision to establish a local presence aligns with Revolut’s goal of reaching 2 million Greek users by 2026, up from around 1.7 million today (and only 270,000 in 2021). 

The branch is part of a broader European strategy: Revolut operates across ~30 European countries thanks to its EU passporting rights and is now pushing deeper into full-service banking.

Revolut is also exploring offering mortgage loans in Greece.

The neobank already launched mortgage products in Lithuania and previously announced it would expand them to Ireland and France by the end of 2025.

Globally, Revolut intends to expand into 30 new markets by 2030, investing $13 billion to reach 100 million users.

Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/dxTgQ3fC


Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ]
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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ]

The 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮 is real.

And the numbers proof it:

While the term "Mafia" generally carries a negative connotation, yet, as Accel coined it, the startup mafia refers to a vast network of second-generation startups, aka unicorn factories.

They grow worldwide because of strong personal connections, vast experience, and shared success stories gained after working in great companies. 

In the fast-paced FinTech scene, few stories are as compelling as the emergence of the "𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮". 

Much like the famed PayPal Mafia that produced tech luminaries like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, Revolut's alumni have had and continue to make significant waves across the startup ecosystem.

The 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮 has now raised over $𝟱𝟲𝟱 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 in total funding.

Revolut became known for its “Never Settle” culture. 

Intense, KPI-driven, and obsessed with shipping fast.

And you can clearly see that DNA in the companies built by its alumni.

According to Chris Pisarski (using Crustdata (YC F24)’s People Search + Funding APIs), here are the most-funded ex-Revolut founders (also see picture below👇):

► Sardine - $146M - Soups Ranjan, Adi G.., Zahid Shaikh
► Fuse Energy - $100M - Alan Chang, Charles O. 
► Shares - $92.6M - Harjas SINGH 
► Belvo - $72.3M - Pablo Viguera, (Oriol H.)
► Deblock - $63.7M - Jean Meyer, Aaron B., Adriana Restrepo, Mario Eguiluz Alebicto 
► Apron - $48.6M - Bogdan Uzbekov
► Nevis - $40M - Mark Swann, Philipp Burda, Ivan Chalov 
► Bleap - $2.3M - Joao Alves, Guilherme Gomes

I also wrote a blog post on this topic a couple of months ago that might be worth reading: https://lnkd.in/dz4bz9-G


Did we miss out on anyone in this overview?

Visa & Mastercard are moving faster into stablecoins than anyone expected.

And the scale is already massive… 

Stablecoins are no longer a side experiment, they’re becoming a core payments rail for the card networks.

Here are numbers that matter:

► Visa’s stablecoin-linked card spend is up 4x YoY
► 130+ stablecoin card programs live in 40+ countries
► Mastercard: 100+ crypto card programs globally
► Rain’s stablecoin cards → $2B+ annualized spend
► Mastercard is reportedly in talks to acquire Zerohash for $2B: https://lnkd.in/d9Txg3Eb
► Visa already invested in stablecoin startup BVNK and custodian Anchorage

What’s driving this?

In markets like LATAM and Africa, banks struggle to access USD liquidity.

Stablecoins fix that — instantly.

And stablecoin-backed prepaid cards let users hold dollars and spend locally, with fintech apps doing the behind-the-scenes conversion.

For merchants, the value is even clearer:

Funds settle faster while interchange remains the same.

Both networks are also quietly enabling banks to issue their own stablecoins, rather than competing with them, a strategic move to stay indispensable.

Credit cards won’t be replaced anytime soon (on-chain credit isn’t there yet), but Visa is already studying crypto-backed credit products for the next wave.

What’s also interesting:

Visa & Mastercard aren’t launching their own stablecoins, they’re becoming the infrastructure helping banks launch theirs.

A strategic move to stay indispensable without competing directly with issuers.

At the same time, merchants love stablecoin settlement because funds arrive faster, even if interchange stays the same.

And while stablecoins won’t replace credit yet (no on-chain credit model exists at scale), Visa is openly exploring crypto-backed credit cards, which they believe could be a “massive opportunity.”

My take:

This is no longer “crypto payments.”

This is a new USD distribution model for the developing world, and the card networks are positioning themselves as the global rails for it.

Five years from now, stablecoin-backed cards may be one of Visa’s and Mastercard’s biggest growth engines.


What do you think? 


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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

(It’s free, but means a lot to me 👍)

Apple just turned your passport into a Digital ID inside Apple Wallet 🤯

This is Apple’s biggest step yet toward a fully digital identity layer,
and it’s starting exactly where adoption is easiest: domestic air travel.

Here’s what’s new:

▪️ Create a Digital ID using your physical U.S. 🇺🇸 passport

Scan the passport photo page → read the chip → selfie + liveness check → added to Wallet.

See full explainer in the video below 👇

▪️ Present your ID with iPhone or Apple Watch

Double-click, hold near the reader, approve with Face ID → done.
No handing over your device, no showing your screen.

▪️ Privacy-first by design

– Data stays on your device
– Encrypted end-to-end
– Apple can’t see when/where you present your ID
– You only share the specific fields requested (age, identity, etc.)

▪️ Rolling out first in beta at 250+ U.S. airports

Domestic travel only, it doesn’t replace a physical passport yet.

But this is the foundation for presenting your ID at businesses, apps, age-restricted services, and more.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀:

Digital identity is quickly becoming the missing piece in the FinTech + payments stack.

Apple already has payments (Apple Pay), banking (Apple Card), and authentication (Face ID).

Now they’re adding government-issued identity into the same flow.

Travel, onboarding, age verification, KYC… everything becomes a tap.


Now over to you: Will Digital ID be the default way Americans identify themselves within 3–5 years?


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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

(It’s free, but means a lot to me 👍)

The biggest office flex in London today? It’s happening at Revolut’s HQ.

And here’s the plot twist:

Just days after my update on Visa’s big move to Canary Wharf (https://lnkd.in/dxx4Vsv6), another heavyweight is joining the Docklands revival:

Deutsche Bank is set to take ~250,000 sq ft in the same building where Revolut occupies the top floors (https://lnkd.in/dJsSyYEk), roughly double Revolut’s footprint.

And yes, that means Deutsche could soon place its own logo on one side of a tower currently dominated by Revolut’s branding. 

A perfect snapshot of 2025’s FinTech–Bank crossover era 😉

A few angles worth noting:

👉 Deutsche keeps its main HQ at Moorgate, but Canary Wharf is clearly back in play.

👉 The area is experiencing a real resurgence after years of muted demand.

👉 Major players are piling in:

• Visa signed a 300,000 sq ft, 15-year lease at One Canada Square (starting 2028).
• JPMorgan is planning a 3m sq ft tower for up to 12,000 employees.
• Even HSBC is keeping space in the Wharf after announcing its HQ move.

What many called the decline of Canary Wharf now looks more like a reset, led by a mix of global banks and FinTech giants reshaping London’s skyline together.

The Docklands comeback is real. And accelerating.


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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ]

🚨 𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: Mollie just bought GoCardless for €𝟭.𝟬𝟱 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻, creating a new €𝟯.𝟱𝗕 European payments powerhouse.

This is one of the biggest European FinTech deals of the decade.

Here’s what just happened, and why it matters:

Mollie (now valued at €1.95B) is acquiring UK-based GoCardless for €1.05B in a mostly stock deal. 

Together, they become a €3.5B+ payments leader serving 350,000+ businesses across SMEs and enterprise.

The strategic play?

👉 Bank payments + card payments under one roof

GoCardless dominates direct debit + open banking payments
Mollie dominates card acquiring + merchant services
Combined: a true “one-stop shop” for European businesses looking for integrated payment rails.

A few standout points from both CEOs:

• “Not looking to cut costs — looking to enhance products.”
• Both companies are profitable and growing healthily.
• Strong conviction that customers want fewer vendors, more integration.

💬 Koen Köppen, CEO of Mollie: 

"Mollie's mission has always been to make money management effortless. We were founded on the vision to eliminate financial bureaucracy for every business. We see that bureaucracy creates challenges, especially for businesses with recurring revenue. A card-only approach has its limits, leading to high costs due to failed payments and customer churn. GoCardless built the definitive solution to optimize this process with its global bank payment network. By bringing them into Mollie, we take a huge step towards fulfilling our vision and creating one complete platform for sustainable growth."

💬 Hiroki Takeuchi, co-founder and CEO of GoCardless: 

"We’re incredibly excited to join forces with Mollie. This deal brings together two highly complementary businesses that have built best-in-class products across Europe and beyond.  By combining our expertise in card, bank and hyperlocal payments into one provider, we can better serve our customers, accelerate growth and raise the bar for the industry. It’s a win for European fintech and we’re confident that the new company will be greater than the sum of its parts.”

Context:

Mollie was valued at $6.5B during the 2021 FinTech boom. GoCardless hit $2.1B in 2022. 

This deal — mostly stock — reflects today’s reset valuations but also signals renewed consolidation in European payments.

More about this deal in my newsletter!


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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ]

🚨 Revolut launches “Street Mode”, one of the smartest security upgrades we’ve seen in fintech this year.

Phone thefts are exploding.

And the threat has evolved:

Criminals now force victims to complete the selfie check before running, a trend known as “transfer mugging.”

Revolut’s answer? Context-aware security.

What Street Mode does:

You set “Trusted Locations” — home, office, hotel, wherever you feel safe.

Inside those zones → transfers work normally.
Outside → any transfer above your limit triggers:

✅ Extra selfie verification
👉 Mandatory 1-hour delay before funds can move

That one hour is the kill switch.

A critical window for you (or Revolut’s fraud team) to freeze everything before money disappears.

Why this matters:

Traditional bank security is static.

Same rules whether you’re on your couch or walking through a crime hotspot at 2 AM.

Revolut is building adaptive financial security:
Rules and protections that respond to your environment, not just your device.

Over 1 million users already enabled Revolut’s Wealth Protection feature.
Street Mode extends that logic to real-world threats.

Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/dhDSQdvg


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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ]

Introducing Revolut Street Mode

The biggest token revolution in payments isn’t happening in crypto.

It’s happening at Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.

Most people still think of them as “card companies.”
A piece of plastic in your pocket.
A 16-digit number on a screen.

But that era is ending fast.

These companies are quietly transforming into global money-movement networks, and one of the biggest shifts underway is 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

For years, every online payment relied on the PAN (those 16 digits).
If it leaked, it could be used anywhere.
If your card expired, your subscriptions broke.
Merchants lost revenue. Consumers got annoyed. Everyone lost.

Tokenization flips the model.

Instead of sharing your real card number, the network issues a 𝘁𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻, a dynamic, secure credential bound to a specific device, merchant, or use case.

► A stolen token is useless outside its original environment
► When your card is reissued, the token updates instantly. No more failed Netflix/Spotify subscriptions 😉
► Merchants see higher approval rates across Visa, Mastercard, and Amex when transactions run on tokens

And the scale is exploding:

👉	Visa already processes more tokenized transactions than traditional PAN submissions

👉	Mastercard has billions of tokens live and is pushing them into every major checkout experience

👉	American Express is rolling tokenization across wallets, card-on-file, recurring billing, and embedded payments

This isn’t a “security feature.”

It’s an architectural overhaul, the biggest since the migration from swipe to chip.

Except this time, it’s completely invisible.
No new hardware. No consumer education.
Just smoother payments, fewer declines, and a safer global network.

While the world keeps arguing about crypto tokens, the real token revolution is already happening at the very heart of the existing payment rails.

How long before the 16-digit PAN becomes nothing more than a legacy artifact?

🚨 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Airwallex raises $330M Series G at $𝟴 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 valuation 🤯

Establishes San Francisco as dual global headquarters.

The valuation is about 30% higher than in Airwallex’s previous round six months ago, according to a statement today: https://lnkd.in/dKmJ-WiT

$1B+ will be deployed in the U.S. over the next four years to scale operations, hire AI talent, and double down on product development right at the epicenter of AI innovation.

Here’s the scale of what they just reported:

🔥 $1B+ annualized revenue (up 90% YoY)
🔥 $235B+ annualized TPV (2× YoY)
🔥 Half of customers use multiple products
🔥 80+ licenses globally, enabling operations in 200+ markets
🔥 Expansion in 12 new countries this year alone
🔥 Workforce growing 50% by 2026
🔥 Specialized AI agents rolling out to automate real financial workflows, from expense matching to policy checks to end-to-end orchestration.

💬 “We believe the future of global banking will be borderless, real-time, and intelligent,” said Jack Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Airwallex. 

“Legacy providers are fundamentally incompatible with how modern businesses operate, and our investors understand that we're pulling ahead in the race to define this category. We’re building a modern alternative, a single platform that powers global banking, payments, billing, treasury, and spend on top of proprietary financial infrastructure. This capital will accelerate our growth, extend our technical leadership, and strengthen our position in the U.S. and across key markets worldwide.”

Airwallex is now positioning itself not as a cross-border payments company, but as the operating system for international business banking.

More about this in my newsletter!


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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

(It’s free, but means a lot to me 👍)

🚨 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Nubank is said to be close to finalizing a 10-year agreement for naming rights to Inter Miami CF’s New Stadium, worth around US$19 million per year, totaling roughly 𝗨𝗦$𝟭𝟵𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 🤯

The planned venue, Miami Freedom Park, will seat 25,000 fans and is expected to open in April 2026. 

The investment would be a major step in Nubank’s U.S. expansion strategy. 

Co-founder and CGO Cristina Junqueira recently relocated to Miami to focus on building the company’s U.S. operations, and Nubank has already applied for a U.S. banking license.

Sources told Bloomberg Línea (https://lnkd.in/dZfWdfMu) that stadium management is also in discussions with other potential buyers of the naming rights, meaning a deal with Nubank is not guaranteed.

Inter Miami is owned by Jorge and Jose Mas, along with David Beckham. The new US$1 billion stadium complex covers 53 hectares near Miami International Airport and will include:

👉 A 750-room hotel
👉 A 23-hectare public park
👉 Retail and office space

The club will inaugurate the stadium on April 4, 2026, in a match against Austin FC.


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Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

(It’s free, but means a lot to me 👍)

ING is launching its next-generation debit cards in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 

A milestone 40 years after the first debit card transaction.

In November 1985, Neelie Smit-Kroes made history with the first-ever Dutch card payment, using a Postgiro card, a predecessor of ING.

Fast-forward to 2025: from magnetic stripe → chip → contactless → mobile wallets, the Dutch payment experience has transformed beyond recognition.

And now ING marks this 40-year milestone with a next-step evolution:

Introducing the renewed ING Debit Card (Visa or Mastercard 👉 see pictures below👇).

Nearly 10 million cards will transition to a modern, globally accepted format. 

Same debit functionality, but with new capabilities:

► Better acceptance outside Europe for both physical and digital cards

► Contactless cash withdrawals using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Garmin Pay

► Online payments using the card number, just like a credit card

► Sustainable design, made from recycled plastic

► Fresh, vertical layout + clear distinction between personal (orange),  and business (white) 👉 see pictures below👇

► Accessibility features remain, including the tactile notch for visually impaired customers

𝗙𝘂𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁:

Before the first “pin payment” in 1985, Amsterdam’s Gemeentegiro (another ING predecessor) introduced the Geldkaartin 1976, the first magstripe card with a PIN.

That simple card laid the foundation for the entire modern Dutch payment ecosystem.


Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/d5SkrGEs

And sign up for my newsletter for more interesting FinTech/Payments/Digital Banking updates: https://lnkd.in/e-tzDwh7


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(It’s free, but means a lot to me 👍)

European 🇪🇺 FinTech Market Map 👇

Which company is missing?

Source: https://lnkd.in/dvp2B739


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👀Next week, Perplexity will launch a free agentic shopping product for U.S. users, letting people go from search → decision → purchase in a single flow. And they’re doing it with a major partner: PayPal.

This is a big moment in the race to own the AI-powered checkout layer, and here’s what stands out:

1️⃣ Agentic = buy directly from the answer

Perplexity streamlines the full journey: you ask a question, get product suggestions, and complete the purchase instantly, all inside the platform.

2️⃣ PayPal powers the rails

More than 5,000 merchants will be accessible through Perplexity at launch, with PayPal acting as merchant of record. 

That means:

👉PayPal handles payments, refunds, and customer service
👉Full PayPal buyer protection applies
👉Merchants stay connected to PayPal even as commerce shifts to agentic platforms

3️⃣ This goes far beyond their “Buy With Pro” feature

Perplexity already tested this for paid subscribers, but the free product comes with better intent detection and personalized results using memory from previous searches.

4️⃣ The agentic checkout war is on

OpenAI launched Instant Checkout in September, with Etsy and Shopify as partners, plus PayPal coming onboard next year.

Now Perplexity joins the fight with a free model and a holiday-season launch window.

Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/dX2mZnRh

Who wins this race: OpenAI, Perplexity, Google, Amazon… or someone we’re not talking about yet?

What do you think?

Apple’s EU 🇪🇺 concessions just opened a huge door.

And Visa is the first one stepping in.

There's a big shift happening in Europe’s mobile wallet landscape:

Visa is rapidly expanding across EU wallets now that Apple finally opened NFC access under antitrust pressure.

Here’s what’s happening:

👉 Visa is partnering with BBVA Pay in Spain, bringing Visa Token Service into the wallet.
👉 Visa + Klarna are rolling out iOS/Android contactless payments.
👉 Visa + Vipps Mobile Pay now cover ~70% of the Nordic banking market.
👉 A new Visa-powered Bancomat wallet pilot is coming to Italy in 2026.

And the timing couldn’t be better:

📈 Mobile wallets already account for 59% of all e-commerce in Europe
📈 On track to hit 75% within four years
📱 32% of Europeans pay only with mobile wallets

With Apple forced to open up NFC due to the Digital Markets Act, suddenly the EU wallet market is wide open, and Visa is positioning itself at the center of that competition, choice, and innovation.

This is Visa’s network-of-networks strategy in action:

Expanding far beyond cards, powering wallets, banks, and new payment experiences across Europe.

The big question:

Can anyone truly challenge Apple Pay’s UX advantage — or will collaborative bank wallets like Vipps, Twint, Swish, Bancomat, and Bizum become the next wave of European payment super-apps?

Payment Gateway 🆚 Payment Orchestration 👇

Payment Gateway 🆚 Payment Orchestration

🚨 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Revolut officially confirmed a $𝟳𝟱 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡 valuation 🤯, and considers acquiring Singular Bank to boost their Private Banking Business.

Revolut has completed a major share sale led by Coatue, Greenoaks, Dragoneer, and Fidelity, with participation from a16z, Franklin Templeton, T. Rowe Price, and even NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture arm) — deepening their AI partnership.

This is a significant jump from its previous $45 billion valuation.

💬 Nik Storonsky sums it up well: 

This milestone reflects the remarkable progress we have made in the last twelve months towards our vision of building the first truly global bank, serving 100 million customers across 100 countries. I’d like to thank our team for their determination and energy, and for believing that it is possible to build a global financial and technology leader from Europe.”

💬 Victor Stinga, CFO of Revolut, added: 

“The level of investor interest and our new valuation reflect the strength of our business model, which is delivering both rapid growth and strong profitability. We welcome onboard a series of world-class investors and look forward to working with them for the next stage in Revolut’s evolution.”

The next 12 months will show whether Revolut can convert this momentum into full-stack banking dominance in the Americas and Asia.


𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲, Warburg Pincus has begun the sale process for Singular Bank, a Spanish private banking and wealth-management firm, and both Abanca and Revolut are evaluating potential bids, according to industry sources. 

Offers would value the bank, led by former Santander CEO Javier Marin Romano, at around €100 million.

“We have many customers with high balances, and we want to offer services tailored to clients managing significant wealth. It’s a vertical we plan to open, and we’re hiring talent in several countries,” a Revolut spokesperson said.

Buying Singular Bank would instantly provide Revolut with an experienced team capable of serving high-net-worth clients. The company declined to comment on timing: “We have no dates or further information to share,” the spokesperson added.

More about this, and other FinTech news, in my newsletter!


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🚨 𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 𝙄𝙉: Airwallex has just become a Principal Member of the European Payments Initiative (EPI Company), and will bring Wero, Europe’s first pan-European A2A digital wallet, to merchants across the continent.

With more than 40+ domestic payment systems still active across Europe, merchants have long struggled with inconsistent rules, infrastructure, and user experiences.

Wero changes that:

► 45+ million users already
► €7.5B+ in transactions
► Backed by 16 leading European banks & PSPs
► Built to unify A2A payments across borders

Now Airwallex merchants will be able to offer Wero from day one, simplifying access to European shoppers and reducing dependence on legacy card rails.

Kai Wu (CRO, Airwallex):

💬 “Wero represents a major milestone for European commerce, and we’re proud to help shape the future of digital payments in Europe.”

Martina Weimert (CEO, EPI):

💬 “Partnering with Airwallex expands Wero’s reach to the international merchants driving digital commerce across Europe.”

Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/dRfk6iVW


More about this in my newsletter!


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🚨 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Mastercard brings agentic payments to life in the UAE 🇦🇪

Check this out 👇

Mastercard has officially launched 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝘆 in the UAE, marking the first rollout outside the US and a major step in the shift toward fully autonomous payments.

At the launch, leaders including H.E. Omar Sultan Al Olama, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach, and Majid Al Futtaim CEO Ahmed Galal Ismail highlighted a clear message: The UAE wants to set the global benchmark for AI-powered digital commerce.

The global rollout begins now, and agentic transactions will reshape e-commerce faster than most expect.

Check out the video below for the first live transaction and 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝘆 Demo👇

📷 Source video: Prakriti Singh/Mastercard 


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Revolut integrates Polygon Labs, and quietly processes $690M already.


One of the biggest real-world proofs of Web3 payments just dropped. Revolut, with 65M+ users across 38 countries, has fully integrated Polygon for stablecoin transfers, payments, trading, and staking.

And the adoption is already there: $690 million in volume has been processed over Polygon rails inside the Revolut app.

This is what mainstream crypto usage actually looks like👇

What Revolut users can now do on Polygon:

• Send/receive USDC & USDT with near-zero fees
• Pay for everyday purchases using the Revolut crypto card
• Trade & stake POL directly in the app
• On/off-ramp seamlessly to fiat inside Revolut

This turns Polygon into a consumer-facing payments rail embedded inside Europe’s largest neobank - not theory, not pilots, but real daily usage.

Why this matters:

• 14M Revolut users already engage with crypto
• Polygon’s Rio upgrade now enables ~5,000 TPS and near-instant finality
• Fees are fractions of a cent — perfect for global payments and remittances
• It positions Polygon as the leading enterprise blockchain for stablecoin money movement

Revolut now joins a growing list of institutions choosing Polygon for payments: Mastercard, Stripe, Flutterwave, Worldpay, BlackRock/Securitize, Reliance Jio, NRW.Bank, and more.

Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/dSpVv_82


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Apple just gave 🇪🇺 European APMs their biggest POS opportunity ever.

With iOS NFC now opened by mandate, third-party wallets can finally:

• Be set as the default wallet on iPhone
• Use tap-to-pay with field detect
• Confirm via double-click
• Authenticate with Face ID

That’s Apple Pay–level UX.

And APMs are moving fast:

• Klarna rolling out tap-to-pay across 14 European markets (Dec ’25)
• Vipps MobilePay live with NFC in Norway & Denmark
• Bizum building an NFC wallet for POS payments (targeting Q4 ’25)

NFC access is no longer the blocker.

The real question now: 
Can APMs turn this technical win into habit change at the checkout?

The European POS battle just got interesting.

Read more about this topic in this interesting source article by Flagship Advisory Partners: https://lnkd.in/dx4zjF63


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