Walmart Finally Gives In: Apple Pay and Google Pay Are Coming
Hey Payment Fanatic!
Well, this took long enough. 😄
Walmart is finally bringing Apple Pay and Google Pay to its stores, starting August 24 and rolling out nationwide by the end of the year. After years of pushing its own Walmart Pay and Scan-and-Go, the retail giant has apparently decided that customers really do want to tap their phones at checkout.
I actually find the reversal more interesting than the feature itself. Walmart spent years trying to build its own payment ecosystem — even backing an alternative to Apple Pay — only to eventually give customers what they were already asking for.
Sometimes the market wins simply because people get tired of being told how they should pay.
And speaking of owning the payment experience, Mesta is taking a different approach: giving payment providers and fintechs a white-labeled way to offer cross-border payments under their own brand, without having to build the rails themselves.
Let’s get into today’s Payments stories. 👇 See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
💡 Mesta: Bringing White-Labeled Cross-Border Payments to Market. Mesta has launched a white-labeled Customer Portal that lets payment providers, FinTechs, and B2B software platforms offer international payments under their own brand without building the underlying infrastructure. Customers can handle onboarding, KYB, beneficiaries, and payments through a branded interface, while transactions run on Mesta’s rails. With both APIs and the new portal, Mesta is making it easier for providers to own the customer relationship while relying on infrastructure they don’t need to build themselves. Read the full article here
NEWS
🇦🇺 Airwallex pushes into autonomous finance, rolling out AI-powered tools for automated bookkeeping and agentic commerce after raising $320 million at an $11 billion valuation. The fintech is still targeting IPO readiness by year-end, though president Lucy Liu says it’s “not the best time” to go public.
🇺🇸 MassPay launches MassPay Validate, a standalone pre-send account verification product. The tool confirms account status and ownership via a single API call, helping companies reduce failed payouts before funds move.
🇺🇸 Miracle Pay partners with ZeroHash to enable stablecoin payments for U.S. merchants. The partnership allows merchants to accept stablecoin payments via Zero Hash across the United States.
🇺🇸 Walmart to finally start accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay, ending a decade-long holdout at its U.S. stores and Sam's Club locations. The rollout begins August 24, bringing Walmart in line with the 85% of U.S. retailers already accepting tap-to-pay options.
🇺🇸 OnePay expands support for Apple Pay, broadening contactless payment options for its customers. The move lets OnePay users pay with Apple Pay wherever the digital wallet is accepted.
🇺🇸 PublicSquare expands embedded payments distribution with a new LendSuite Software integration. The partnership extends PublicSquare's embedded payments reach through LendSuite's software network.
🇮🇳 Cashfree Payments posts 52% jump in revenue in FY26, losses narrow to Rs 118.7 crore. The Indian payment gateway firm grew operating revenue to Rs 967.2 crore after two years of stagnation following an RBI onboarding ban lifted in late 2023.
🇵🇭 PalawanPay targets physical card rollout in Q4, expanding beyond its digital wallet. The Visa card will support POS, in-store, and ATM withdrawals with minimal foreign exchange fees for users worldwide.
🇺🇸 Ramp adds x402 payments for AI agents, pairing USDC agent wallets with corporate spend controls on Solana. The alpha launch extends Ramp's push to give AI agents controlled financial authority alongside its existing Agent Cards product.
🇳🇬 PalmPay expands financial services to help Nigerians save and earn more. The platform is broadening its offering beyond payments to include savings and investment features for its Nigerian user base. Read more
🇺🇸 ReconArt integrates with Solana to support stablecoin remittance and agentic payments reconciliation. The integration enables businesses to reconcile stablecoin and agentic payment flows on the Solana blockchain.
🌍 _able and Onafriq collaborate with Visa to expand access to credit through Visa Flex Credential across CEMEA. The partnership lets financial institutions activate credit experiences alongside existing prepaid and debit credentials.
🇧🇷 Liquid Group and PagBrasil launch RoamQR-Pix cross-border QR payments in Brazil, marking the network's first corridor into Latin America. Users of participating Asian wallets can now scan standard Pix QR codes at merchants across Brazil.
🇧🇷 Inter Pag selects ACI Worldwide to advance intelligent payments orchestration in Brazil, supporting the merchant acquirer's modernization strategy. The ACI Acquiring Platform will power cloud-enabled acquiring, AI-driven fraud prevention, and analytics for Inter Pag's 100,000-plus SMB clients.
🇺🇸 REPAY joins Visa Platform Connect, establishing a reseller agreement for the next-generation open payments platform. ISO and ISV clients gain direct access to enterprise-grade clearing and settlement infrastructure.
🇰🇷 KakaoBank and Shinhan Card launch the Chak-Boot Card, a co-branded PLCC offering 10% off mobile payments and AI subscriptions. The card gives discounts on ChatGPT and Claude recurring fees plus 50% off Naver Plus and Coupang Wow memberships.
🇺🇸 American Express and St Andrews Links Trust announce a partnership to grow the global reach of the Home of Golf. The collaboration connects the Amex brand with one of golf's most iconic venues. Read more
🇺🇸 Natural lands $100M credit facility from Upper90 to scale its AI-driven payment processing operations. The facility gives Natural dedicated capital to expand its AI payments infrastructure as demand for automated payment solutions grows.
🇨🇦 Calgary FinTech Helcim raises $53M in Series C funding, marking a significant milestone for the Canadian payments company. The raise positions Helcim to accelerate growth and expand its small business payments platform.
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