What happened: Software platforms now control 35% of the US SMB merchant payments revenue as they offer their own payment and financial products. In response, payments service providers are acquiring commerce software to control the full product bundle and compete. This trend started in the US but is expanding to Europe (Flagship Advisory Partners).
My comment: In a way, you can compare it with banks that are launching their own invoicing and bookkeeping offering. They also do this to compete with software platforms that embed banking, and payment service providers are doing the same for payments. The days of focusing solely on software or financial services are over, but it’s not an easy journey: neither for software platforms nor for PSPs.
