Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence

What Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence does

Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI) is a global payments and commerce advisory firm founded in 1993 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, operating as a subsidiary of Americas Market Intelligence (AMI). The firm maintains offices in 11 global cities and serves clients across 60+ markets spanning the Americas, EMEA, and APAC, with a focus on payments networks, processors, fintechs, financial institutions, and merchants. Its client roster includes Mastercard, Visa, ACI, dlocal, Ebanx, Kushki, Flywire, Nuvei, Coupa, and BackBase, among others.

PCMI's product portfolio rests on three pillars. First, bespoke advisory engagements led by Managing Director and Co-Founder Lindsay Lehr (15+ years, 400+ engagements personally) and specialist directors such as Dr. Ignacio E. Carballo in Alternative Finance. Second, the Global E-Commerce Data Library — a proprietary subscription data product covering 35+ markets and expanding to 60+, sold at US$2,500 per individual country report. Third, thought-leadership channels including branded Coffee Chats and Conference Speaker programming. In April 2026 the firm launched a 39-Outcome-Driven Services Suite that formalizes advisory offerings into a modular, outcome-mapped catalog.

The business model combines professional services revenue from advisory and commissioned research (e.g., a 2025 joint research engagement with Mastercard and a 2025 stablecoin report with Kraken, Paxos, and Zodia Markets), recurring subscription revenue from the data library, and brand-driven demand generation via thought leadership. PCMI positions itself as a specialist alternative to generalist management consultancies for payments-domain questions, leveraging three decades of operating history, proprietary cross-market data, and concentrated payments expertise.

Name

Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence

Legal name

Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence

Website

https://paymentscmi.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

PCMI is a Miami-headquartered global payments and commerce advisory firm founded in 1993, serving networks, processors, fintechs, and merchants across 60+ markets via bespoke advisory, a proprietary e-commerce data library, and thought-leadership channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payments Market Intelligence & Advisory

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210)

SIC

Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320)

akta.pro primary industry

Payment Processing & Acquiring Infrastructure (FSAGABAC)

Keywords

• Payments market research
• Ecommerce data intelligence
• Fintech advisory services
• Digital payments consulting
• Global payments research

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Strategic Advisory Consulting Services: PCMI provides outcome-driven advisory services to global payments and financial services companies, organized around Grow, Measure, and Protect strategic objectives. Services include sales and marketing acceleration, thought leadership, commercial intelligence, and internal sales coaching. With over 30 years of industry experience and 500+ client engagements since 1993.
2. Market Intelligence Data Products: PCMI sells standardized Excel data reports and customized data bundles covering e-commerce market sizes, payment method breakdowns, and market data for individual countries or regional bundles. The company also offers one-hour expert consultations included with each data purchase, and customized data expansions for specific client needs.
3. Thought Leadership and Research Reports: PCMI produces proprietary research reports and market intelligence publications covering payments megatrends, country-specific analyses, and thematic deep-dives (e.g., stablecoins, Bre-B, UPI, A2A payments) available for free or as premium content, driving demand for advisory engagements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

PCMI is a global payments advisory firm that sells proprietary market intelligence on digital payments and e-commerce, delivered through subscription-based data libraries, per-report research products, outcome-driven consulting engagements, and proprietary industry events. Its core inventory includes country-level data reports, regional e-commerce data portraits, and bespoke advisory services for payments networks, processors, acquirers, and fintech platforms seeking to enter or expand in Latin America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.

Product overview

Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI) operates as a global payments advisory firm offering a portfolio of market intelligence products and strategic advisory services. At its core is the Global Payments Market Research Services practice, which is the umbrella for advisory engagements across growth, measurement, and protection strategies. The 39-Outcome-Driven Services Suite (launched April 2026) represents PCMI's formalization of its advisory methodology into discrete service lines. Supporting the advisory practice is the Global E-Commerce Data Library, which covers e-commerce market data across 35+ countries and is available as a full library or by individual country bundles (US$2,500 per market). Country-specific data products include the E-commerce Data Portrait of Asia Pacific (12 markets), the E-commerce Data Portrait of Latin America (12 markets with country-level reports in English, Spanish, and Portuguese), and the Latin America E-Commerce Blueprint (a free summary report). Adjacent service offerings include PCMI Payments Coffee Chats (a free monthly panel discussion series) and Global Payments Conference Speakers (a bureau of expert speakers for industry events). Together, the advisory services and data products serve banks, fintechs, merchants, PSPs, and other global payments players seeking market intelligence across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Global Payments Market Research Services Bespoke and structured market-research and advisory engagements covering digital payments and e-commerce, delivered to payments networks, processors, acquirers, and fintech platforms. Engagements include market sizing, competitive landscape, partner selection, and country-level strategy work.
• 39-Outcome-Driven Services Suite (39 ODS) A standardized advisory framework that translates payments and commerce research into 39 specific, measurable client outcomes. Sold to enterprise payments and fintech buyers seeking results-tied engagements rather than report-only deliverables.
• Global E-Commerce Data Library Subscription-based data product providing structured, country-level e-commerce and digital payments metrics across multiple global markets. Sold on annual subscription terms to enterprise buyers needing ongoing data refreshes.
• Latin America E-Commerce Digital Payments Data Library Region-focused subscription data product providing country-level e-commerce and digital payments data specifically for Latin American markets. Sold as a standalone subscription to buyers prioritizing LatAm coverage.
• Global Payments Conference Speakers Bureau Paid speaking engagements delivered by PCMI's senior executives at industry conferences and corporate events, monetizing the firm's expertise and category authority.

Quantifiable outcome

• 60% of consumer expenditure in Latin America is electronic, with cash declining from 57% in 2022 to 37% in 2025
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• Payments Coffee Chats - Industry Expert NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026PCMI hosts monthly Payments Coffee Chats featuring expert guests from across the global payments industry, including representatives from Stripe, EBANX, Bitso Business, Yuno, Rexi, Clip, Kraken, Paxos, and Zodia Markets. These panel discussions serve as both a thought leadership channel and a partnership network.
• MastercardflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2025Mastercard commissioned PCMI to conduct a joint research study titled 'La nueva era de inclusión financiera en América Latina, cómo las fintechs están impulsando el acceso a servicios financieros y logrando la rentabilidad sostenible' (The new era of financial inclusion in Latin America, how fintechs are driving access to financial services and achieving sustainable profitability), covering Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Peru.
• KrakencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025PCMI's Director of Alternative Finance, Dr. Ignacio E. Carballo, interviewed Kraken's Banking & Payments Lead for the Americas, Erick Schneider, for the 'How Banks Can Win in the Stablecoin Era' research report. The interview provided expert perspectives on stablecoin monetization, custody infrastructure, and bank-crypto partnerships.
• PaxoscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025PCMI interviewed Paxos Product Lead Chuk Okpalugo for the 'How Banks Can Win in the Stablecoin Era' research report, covering topics including custody infrastructure, wallet abstraction, and democratization of access through stablecoins for regional banks.
• Zodia MarketscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025PCMI interviewed Zodia Markets Co-Founder and Head of Partnerships Nick Philpott for the 'How Banks Can Win in the Stablecoin Era' research report, providing insights on revenue opportunities, brokered treasuries, strategic equity stakes in issuers, and hybrid custody models.
• Americas Market IntelligencecoreOthersPCMI is a subsidiary of Americas Market Intelligence. Americas Market Intelligence provides organizational backing and shared resources, with both entities operating from shared office locations including Miami. PCMI experts (including Valentina Meneses) are described as supporting the PCMI practice while being published under the AMI brand in some contexts.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Americas Market Intelligence: Parent company of PCMI and itself a market intelligence firm focused on Latin America. Operates the same advisory/research model in adjacent LatAm verticals (consumer, industrial, healthcare), making it the closest operational and structural comparable.
• Aite-Novarica Group: Independent research and advisory firm covering payments, banking, wealth/asset management and insurance. Closely mirrors PCMI's business model of paid research reports, advisory engagements and executive insights for financial services enterprises.
• Datos Insights: Financial services research and advisory firm (successor to Aite Group's practice under Datos). Directly competes for the same enterprise research, advisory and benchmarking budgets that PCMI targets in the payments and fintech space.
• FXC Intelligence: Cross-border payments market intelligence provider with primary research methodology and subscription data products. Comparable as a specialist payments intelligence firm monetizing proprietary datasets and executive advisory.
• 11:FS: Financial services consultancy and research firm producing reports, podcasts and advisory on banking, payments and fintech. Overlaps with PCMI on fintech advisory and thought leadership content aimed at payments executives.
• yStats.com: Global market research firm specializing in B2C e-commerce, online payments and fintech reports. Closely comparable on standardized country-level e-commerce/payments report products at similar price points.
• The Paypers: Payments industry news, research and insights platform covering global payments, fintech and commerce. Comparable as a specialist payments intelligence and content provider serving enterprise fintech/PSP audiences.

Broad incumbents

• Insider Intelligence (eMarketer): Large subscription research and forecasting firm covering digital commerce, fintech and payments. Comparable on subscription data products and forecasts but with much broader coverage and a larger analyst bench.
• GlobalData Financial Services: Large-scale data analytics and research firm with a dedicated financial services/payments practice. Competes for enterprise research wallets with broader datasets and syndicated reports than PCMI's bespoke LatAm/APAC focus.

Emerging players

• Bastion (Payments Industry Research): Smaller specialist payments research and consulting firm with comparable coverage of cross-border payments, fintech and digital commerce. Overlaps with PCMI on niche advisory and data products for the payments ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/payments-and-commerce-market-intelligence

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence