INSTO

What INSTO does

INSTO (legal entity Installments, Inc.) is a venture-backed private fintech founded in 2013 in Kansas City, USA, with engineering operations based in Taiwan. The company operates a mobile payment platform that converts any smartphone into a credit card payment terminal via its INSTO Tap app — eliminating the need for dedicated card-reader hardware or traditional merchant accounts. Its product portfolio includes INSTO Tap (with separate US and Taiwan market variants), INSTO Credit (cardless installment service where sellers receive full payment upfront and buyers repay in installments without a credit card), and INSTO API (a payment-acceptance integration for websites and applications). The company holds a Taiwan patent on its payment technology and operates under regulatory sponsorship from Taipei Fubon Bank (Taiwan) and US Bank (United States).

INSTO's business model is built on transaction fees across three revenue streams: credit card payment processing, installment payment services (including cardless installments), and API integration services for developers embedding payment acceptance. The go-to-market is product-led growth with self-serve mobile app onboarding and an API-first developer channel. Target customers are individual C2C sellers, SMBs, and developers/online platforms that lack access to traditional merchant acquiring infrastructure. Transaction throughput grew from US$1 million (cumulative 2017) to over US$5 million annually by 2019 and US$1 million monthly by 2020. The company has raised an estimated US$5–6 million cumulatively across seed and pre-A rounds from SYSTEX, NCTU Angel, Taiwan National Development Fund, and Silicon Valley Plug & Play, with Series A reportedly in progress.

In May 2024, INSTO was forced to suspend Taiwan operations following amendments to anti-money laundering laws that imposed financial stability requirements unsuited to the company's scale. The company has since pivoted to the North American market with the 2024 launch of INSTO Tap US and announced planned EU expansion. The strategic posture is best characterized as a geographic turnaround following a forced regulatory exit from its largest established market.

Name

INSTO

Legal name

Installments, Inc.

Website

https://ins.to

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

INSTO (Installments, Inc.) is a fintech platform offering mobile phone-as-card-reader payments, cardless installments, and a payment API for individual sellers, SMBs, and developers. Founded 2013 in Kansas City, USA with engineering in Taiwan; currently pivoting from a suspended Taiwan market to US and EU expansion.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mobile Payment Processing

NAICS

Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Embedded Payments (Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Wallets) (FSAGALAB)

Keywords

• Mobile payment processing
• Credit card acceptance
• Installment payments
• Payment API integration
• Phone-as-card-reader

Headquarters

HQ city

Taipei

HQ country

Taiwan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Credit Card Payment Processing: Transaction fees charged on credit card payments processed through INSTO Tap. Sellers pay per transaction when customers use credit card payment methods.
2. Installment Payment Services: Revenue from installment payment processing, including cardless installment options where sellers receive full payment upfront and buyers pay over time
3. API Integration Services: Revenue from businesses integrating INSTO's payment API into their websites and applications

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

INSTO provides a mobile payment platform that turns any smartphone into a credit card reader via its INSTO Tap app, enabling individuals and businesses to accept credit card payments and offer installment plans without traditional merchant hardware. The offering is complemented by INSTO API for embedded payment integration into websites and apps, and INSTO Credit for cardless installment plans where sellers receive full payment upfront while buyers pay over time.

Product overview

INSTO (Installments, Inc.) is a fintech company founded in Kansas City, USA in 2013, with a development team in Taiwan, offering a comprehensive range of digital payment services. The company provides mobile payment solutions through INSTO Tap (available in US and Taiwan variants) that turn mobile phones into credit card readers, INSTO Credit for cardless installment payment options, and INSTO API for website and app payment integration. Together, these products enable online and offline payment collection services for individuals and businesses.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• INSTO Tap US: Credit card payment solution for the North American market, enabling businesses and individual sellers to accept credit card payments via mobile phone
• INSTO Tap TW
• INSTO API
• INSTO Credit

Products and services

• INSTO Tap US Mobile payment app for the US market that turns any phone into a credit card reader, enabling businesses and individual sellers to accept credit card payments anytime, anywhere.
• INSTO Tap TW Mobile payment app for the Taiwanese market that accepts credit card payments and installment options, providing flexible payment methods for both business and personal sellers.
• INSTO API Payment API that enables seamless integration of credit card payment collection into websites and applications without intermediary pages, providing a smoother checkout experience.
• INSTO Credit

Quantifiable outcome

• Transaction volume exceeded US$1 million in 2017
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• US BankcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022INSTO partnered with US Bank (America's fifth largest bank) as a major payment acquirer in the United States. This partnership supports INSTO's North American market entry and provides payment processing infrastructure.
• Taipei Fubon BankcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021INSTO Tap product launched in partnership with Taipei Fubon Bank in 2021. This partnership enabled INSTO to offer payment services in Taiwan through Fubon Bank's regulatory framework and banking infrastructure.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Affirm: Affirm is the leading US cardless-installment/BNPL provider for consumers at checkout, directly comparable to INSTO Credit's cardless installment offering to buyers.
• Block (Square): Block's Square pioneered the mobile phone-as-card-reader model that INSTO Tap replicates, targeting SMB and individual sellers with low-friction credit-card acceptance — making it the closest functional peer to INSTO Tap.
• SumUp: SumUp offers mobile card-reader hardware and software for SMBs and sole traders across Europe and globally, directly overlapping INSTO's mobile-payments-for-small-merchants positioning.
• Stripe: Stripe's developer-first payment API is the most direct analogue to INSTO API, providing seamless credit-card acceptance integration for websites and apps with global developer reach.
• Afterpay: Afterpay (owned by Block) pioneered pay-in-4 installments for online merchants; its merchant-facing integration model is comparable to INSTO Credit's seller-installed cardless-installment flow.

Broad incumbents

• PayPal: PayPal operates broadly across online payments, BNPL (Pay in 4), and merchant acquiring, overlapping with INSTO's payments, installment, and API products but at vastly greater scale.
• Klarna: Klarna is a major global BNPL provider offering installment plans and embedded payments, comparable to INSTO's combined credit-card-acceptance and installment business model.
• Clover (Fiserv): Clover (Fiserv) offers SMB POS and payment-acceptance hardware/software stacks, comparable to INSTO Tap for SMB sellers and broader than INSTO in functionality.

Emerging players

• Toast: Toast provides mobile/POS payment acceptance specifically for restaurants and SMBs — overlapping with INSTO Tap's SMB vertical, though INSTO is much smaller and more general-purpose.
• BitPay: BitPay focuses on crypto-payment acceptance and processing APIs, sharing with INSTO the alternative/embedded-payments and SMB-focus positioning, though in a different asset class.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/InstoUS
• Xx.com/instoUS

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors6 records

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about INSTO