SumUp

What SumUp does

SumUp is a London-headquartered financial technology company founded in 2012 that provides integrated payment acceptance and commerce tools to over 4 million merchants across 38 markets. Its core platform combines proprietary hardware (SumUp Go and Solo Lite card readers, SumUp Terminal handheld POS, Self-Service Kiosk), software (POS register, Business App, online store builder), and a stack of digital payment products including Invoices, Payment Links, and Online Payments. Around this core, SumUp layers business banking (Business Account), merchant cash advance backed by a $100M Victory Park Capital credit facility, and — most recently — embedded accounting via Sage (Making Tax Digital for Income Tax) and embedded investing via Upvest (euro money market funds from €1). The company operates as a regulated FCA Authorised Electronic Money Institution in the UK and has built critical payout infrastructure with Deutsche Bank covering over 90% of transactions.

SumUp's revenue model is anchored on transaction-based take rates: 1.69% per transaction on the pay-as-you-go tier and 0.99% on the Payments Plus subscription at £19/month, supplemented by hardware sales (e.g., Solo Lite at £25), merchant cash advance economics, and emerging embedded financial services revenue. Go-to-market is hybrid: self-serve product-led growth drives SMB acquisition, while dedicated enterprise sales, exclusive partnerships (e.g., Gong cha across 400+ Americas stores), and UK retail distribution (Toolstation, Screwfix, Ryman, Currys) handle mid-market and enterprise segments. The company also extends reach through OEM integrations including Apple Tap to Pay on iPhone across nine European countries. Disclosed total funding exceeds $2.4 billion across multiple rounds, with the most recent at approximately $1.6 billion in May 2024 led by Goldman Sachs; SumUp is currently preparing for a potential London Stock Exchange IPO at a reported $10-15 billion valuation.

The competitive position rests on scale breadth — 38 markets and 4 million merchants create distribution advantages difficult to replicate — combined with an ecosystem lock-in strategy that ties payments to banking, accounting, lending, and investing. Recent strategic moves emphasize upmarket and embedded finance expansion (Mexico and Canada launches, Sage and Upvest partnerships, Deutsche Bank real-time payouts), alongside enterprise penetration (Gong cha). SumUp's 2021 acquisition of FiveStars for $317M and earlier Tiller acquisition underpin its POS and loyalty capabilities. The company is headquartered in London with operational hubs in Berlin and Dublin, employs between 1,001 and 5,000 people, and has been led by CEO Andrew Helms with Daniel Klein as co-founder and CEO at the operating entity level.

Name

SumUp

Legal name

SumUp Payments Limited

Website

https://sumup.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

SumUp is a London-based fintech providing card readers, POS, invoicing, business banking, and embedded financial services to over 4 million small merchants across 38 global markets, with a transaction-fee business model and an embedded finance expansion strategy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Processing & Merchant Services

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)

akta.pro primary industry

POS, SoftPOS & In-Person Acceptance Infrastructure (FSAGABAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure (FSAGABAE), Payouts, Disbursements & Mass Payments Infrastructure (FSAGABAN), Dispute, Chargeback & Refund Automation (FSAGABAI), Expense Management & Employee Reimbursements (FSAGAJAE)

Keywords

• Card payment processing
• POS systems
• Merchant services
• Mobile payments
• Payment acceptance

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Transaction Fees: Primary revenue stream from processing payment transactions. Transaction fees of 1.69% for pay-as-you-go model and 0.99% for subscription model. Revenue accrues per transaction processed across all merchants.
2. Subscription Plans: Payments Plus subscription at £19/month offering lower 0.99% transaction fee. Monthly recurring revenue from merchants opting for reduced transaction rates.
3. Hardware Sales: Sale of card readers and POS hardware including Solo Lite (£25), SumUp Terminal, and SumUp Go card reader. One-time hardware revenue from device purchases.
4. Merchant Cash Advances: Short-term financing product based on merchant payment history. $100M credit facility from Victory Park Capital supports expansion of cash advance product. Flexible repayment tied to daily card sales.
5. Embedded Financial Services: Money market fund investing feature generating revenue through investment platform participation. Partnership with Upvest enables offering euro-denominated money market funds to merchants.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

SumUp is a financial technology company that provides card payment acceptance solutions, point-of-sale (POS) hardware, and integrated business management tools for small merchants. Its product suite spans card readers, mobile tap-to-pay, terminals, self-service kiosks, online checkout, invoicing, business banking, and cash advance products, enabling merchants to accept payments and run back-office operations from a single platform.

Product overview

SumUp is a global fintech company operating a platform-plus-modules architecture that provides an integrated suite of payment acceptance and financial management tools for small and micro businesses. The core platform encompasses card readers (including SumUp Go and Solo Lite), Tap to Pay, Point of Sale register, and the SumUp Business Account, which together form the primary revenue-generating infrastructure. Around this core, SumUp layers digital payment products including Invoices, Online Payments, Payment Links, Online Store, Bookings, and Order & Pay for omnichannel commerce. Financial management is addressed through Cash Advance, Expenses, and Making Tax Digital (Sage-powered accounting and tax compliance). Growth and retention tools include Gift Cards and the Loyalty program. The SumUp Terminal targets hospitality venues with table-side service capabilities, while the Self-service Kiosk addresses quick-service restaurants. The ecosystem is reinforced by partnerships (Apple Tap to Pay, Form3 SEPA payments, Upvest investing, Sage accounting), serving over four million merchants across 38 markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Card Readers

Quantifiable outcome

• 50% call containment and 23% cost savings through Five9 AI implementation
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability2 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• UpvestcoreTechnology or Integration · 25 March 2026Partnership with Berlin-based Upvest to launch embedded investing feature allowing SumUp's four million merchants to invest idle cash in euro-denominated money market funds starting from €1. Powered by Upvest's investment API infrastructure handling order execution, custody, regulatory reporting, and tax processing. Initially launching in Germany before rolling out across Europe and UK.
• SagecoreTechnology or Integration · 9 March 2026Partnership with Sage to launch embedded accounting offering within SumUp platform, powered by Sage's embedded accounting technology. Helps UK sole traders comply with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax regulations. Solution automatically records income and expenses in real time using payment, invoice, expense, and banking data from SumUp ecosystem.
• Form3coreTechnology or Integration · 25 February 2026Expanded strategic partnership extending Form3's payments platform to support European payment schemes including SEPA Instant, SEPA Credit Transfer, and SEPA Direct Debit. SumUp consolidates multiple payment capabilities through single provider, simplifying payments infrastructure while building on existing UK payments partnership.
• Deutsche BankcoreTechnology or Integration · 24 November 2025Partnership with Deutsche Bank establishing real-time payout infrastructure covering over 90% of SumUp merchant transactions. Enables instant access to funds even during weekends and holidays. Represents critical infrastructure for merchant experience.
• Gong chamajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 November 2025Exclusive partnership with bubble tea giant Gong cha to enhance digital operations across more than 400 stores in the Americas. Developing integrated platform streamlining POS, kiosks, mobile ordering, and loyalty programs. Supports Gong cha's expansion in North and Latin America.
• ApplecoreTechnology or Integration · 18 March 2025Partnership for Apple Tap to Pay on iPhone feature, enabling SumUp merchants to accept contactless payments using only their iPhone without additional hardware. Feature works with contactless cards, Apple Pay, and digital wallets. Available across nine European countries.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights9 records

Direct peers

• Block (Square): Block's Square is the most direct competitor to SumUp, offering card readers, POS software, and embedded financial services to SMBs across the US, Europe, and Australia. Overlap is highest in card-present acceptance and seller software for micro-merchants.
• Stripe: Stripe is a global payments and financial infrastructure platform increasingly competing in SMB POS and in-person acceptance via Stripe Terminal and Stripe Reader, directly overlapping with SumUp's card reader and integrated payments offering.
• Toast: Toast is a restaurant-focused POS and payments platform that, like SumUp's SumUp Terminal, serves hospitality merchants with integrated hardware, software, and payments. It is the leading vertical POS competitor in SumUp's higher-value hospitality segment.
• PayPal (incl. Zettle/iZettle): PayPal's acquisition of Zettle (formerly iZettle) made PayPal a direct card-reader and SMB POS competitor to SumUp in Europe and the Americas, offering very similar mobile card readers, POS software, and merchant services.
• Lightspeed Commerce: Lightspeed provides cloud POS, payments, and commerce solutions to retail and hospitality SMBs across Europe and North America, competing with SumUp Terminal and SumUp's vertical-specific POS solutions in restaurants, retail, and quick-service.
• Clover (Fiserv): Clover, owned by Fiserv, is a POS and merchant services platform for SMBs that competes head-to-head with SumUp's hardware-plus-software stack, particularly in the US and UK restaurant and retail segments.

Broad incumbents

• Adyen: Adyen is a global payments platform serving enterprise and large platforms; while not focused on micro-merchants, it competes for mid-market and enterprise merchants that SumUp targets via its enterprise sales motion and integrations like Form3/SEPA.
• Worldline: Worldline is a large European payment processor and acquirer with broad SMB and enterprise coverage; it overlaps with SumUp's European merchant acquiring and SEPA payment processing, especially following SumUp's expanded Form3 partnership.

Emerging players

• Mollie: Mollie is a European payments and merchant services provider for SMBs, offering card-present and online acceptance plus financial tools that increasingly overlap with SumUp's all-in-one commerce platform in the same geographies.
• Revolut Business: Revolut Business bundles business accounts, payment acceptance, and embedded financial services for SMBs in Europe, increasingly competing with SumUp's Business Account, Expenses, and investing modules for the same micro-merchant customer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/sumup-oss
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Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds17 records

Investors38 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A7 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SumUp