OpenWay Group

What OpenWay Group does

OpenWay Group is a Belgian-headquartered private software company founded in 1995 that develops Way4, a unified digital-first payments platform used by tier-1 banks, national payment processors, and emerging fintechs across 70+ countries. The platform is a composable, real-time core supporting card issuing (debit, credit, prepaid, multi-currency), merchant acquiring, digital wallets, payment switching, BNPL, fleet cards, and Card-as-a-Service deployments. Way4 processes 190M+ cards and wallet users, 2M merchants, and supports 4,490 TPS with 99.989% platform availability. It accepts and issues any payment instrument - cards, wallets, instant payments, tokenized assets, CBDC, and crypto - across ATM, POS, e-commerce, mobile, and wearable channels, deployable on-premises, in the cloud, or as dedicated SaaS.

The company monetizes primarily through subscription-based software licensing tied to transaction volumes, card counts, or merchant volumes processed, supplemented by professional services for implementation and migration. ARR was reported at $47.1M in 2025 against 428 employees, with a valuation of $141.2M. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting tier-1 banks, processors, and fintechs, supplemented by exclusive channel partners such as Network International in MEA, and strategic co-development partnerships with Visa (APAC) and UnionPay International (global).

Key customer outcomes include Nexi achieving 3.5x net revenue increase over three years, Network International reaching $490M revenue (40% growth), Equity Group scaling to 15M cards and 183,000 merchants across seven African countries, and SmartPay onboarding 40M wallet users and 700,000 merchants in three years. The company holds certifications including PA-DSS, PCI-HSM, EMV, and 3-D Secure 2.x, and is recognized by Gartner, Datos Insights, and Juniper Research. Pavel Gubin was appointed CEO in March 2022, and the company completed a Russia exit in June 2022 as part of corporate restructuring.

Name

OpenWay Group

Legal name

OpenWay Group

Website

https://openwaygroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

OpenWay Group is a Belgian-headquartered private software company developing the Way4 unified digital payments platform, serving tier-1 banks, national processors, and fintechs across 70+ countries with card issuing, merchant acquiring, wallets, payment switching, BNPL, and fleet card capabilities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Processing Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Payment Gateways & Orchestration (BPAMAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

POS, SoftPOS & In-Person Acceptance Infrastructure (FSAGABAO), Digital Wallet Platforms (Consumer & Merchant) (BPAMAFAC), Open Banking, Account Aggregation & Payment Initiation APIs (BPAMAFAJ), Crypto Payments & Stablecoin Settlement Platforms (BPAMAFAL)

Keywords

• Digital payment software
• Card management system
• Merchant acquiring software
• Payment switching platform
• Banking software platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Mont-saint-guibert

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Software Licensing and Platform Fees: OpenWay licenses its Way4 platform to banks, processors, and fintechs. The platform supports various deployment models including on-premises, cloud, and dedicated SaaS, generating recurring licensing revenue based on transaction volumes, card counts, or merchant volumes processed.
2. Annual Recurring Revenue: The company reported $47.1 million in ARR in 2025, indicating a subscription-based revenue model with recurring annual contracts.
3. Professional Services and Implementation: Implementation, migration, and consulting services for Way4 platform deployments, including system integration and customization.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

OpenWay Group develops and licenses the Way4 digital payments platform, a composable software solution used by banks, payment processors, and fintechs to issue and manage cards, acquire merchants, operate digital wallets, switch real-time transactions, and deliver services such as BNPL, fleet cards, and Card-as-a-Service. The platform supports over 200 transaction types and is deployable on-premises, in private or public cloud, as a dedicated SaaS instance, or in hybrid configurations.

Product overview

OpenWay Group offers the Way4 digital payments platform—a unified, composable platform architecture that supports multiple payment functions through integrated modules. The core Way4 Platform serves as the foundation, with specialized modules including Card Management System (card issuing), Merchant Acquiring System, Digital Wallet, Payment Hub/Payment Switch, BNPL, Fleet Cards, Card-as-a-Service (CaaS), and Dedicated SaaS deployment. The platform also includes a Data Management Platform for AI-driven analytics. These modules work together on a single core to enable real-time payments, omnichannel operations, and support for cards, wallets, instant payments, tokenized assets, CBDC, and crypto instruments across banks, processors, and fintechs globally.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Way4: Digital payments platform supporting card issuing, merchant acquiring, digital wallets, payment switching, BNPL, fleet cards, and CaaS solutions.

Products and services

• Way4 Digital Payments Platform The unified Way4 platform that delivers card issuing, merchant acquiring, payment switching, digital wallets, BNPL, fleet cards, and Card-as-a-Service on a single software architecture. Sold to banks, payment processors, and fintechs for end-to-end card and payment processing with no-code configuration and multi-protocol support (ISO 8583, NDC/DDC, XML/IFX).
• Way4 Card Issuing Software Card issuing module of the Way4 platform that handles end-to-end management of credit, debit, prepaid, and corporate cards for issuers. Used by banks and fintechs that need a configurable core for card programs.
• Way4 Merchant Acquiring Software Merchant acquiring solution within the Way4 platform for onboarding, settlement, and management of merchant portfolios. Targeted at acquirers and processors that need flexible merchant lifecycle management.
• Way4 Digital Wallet Software Digital wallet software offering within the Way4 platform for issuing tokenized cards and enabling mobile payments. Designed for banks and fintechs launching tokenization-based wallet services.
• Way4 Payment Switch Software Real-time payment switching software within the Way4 platform, providing 24/7 high-throughput transaction routing across ISO 8583, NDC/DDC, and XML/IFX protocols. Targeted at processors requiring benchmark-scale transaction handling.
• Way4 Card-as-a-Service (CaaS) Managed card issuance service powered by the Way4 platform, allowing fintechs and program managers to launch and operate card programs without running their own core processing.
• Way4 Fleet Solutions Software Fleet card software for managing corporate fleet card programs on the Way4 platform, including policy controls, spend rules, and merchant restrictions for vehicle and fuel spend.
• Way4 BNPL Software Buy Now Pay Later lending module on the Way4 platform for banks and lenders offering short-term installment financing at checkout, including credit decisioning, repayment plans, and merchant settlement.
• Way4 Dedicated SaaS Cloud-hosted deployment of the Way4 platform delivered as a dedicated SaaS instance for customers that prefer not to run the software on their own infrastructure.
• Way4 Data Management Platform Data management and AI module of the Way4 platform that provides AI-driven payment routing, fraud detection, and customer segmentation directly on top of Way4 transaction data, without requiring separate analytics tooling.
• Americas Payment Innovation Solution Packaged Way4-based solution tailored to financial institutions in the Americas, providing a regional configuration of the Way4 platform for issuance, acquiring, and wallet operations in the Americas market.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3.5x net revenue increase over three years for Nexi using Way4
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability4 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• VisacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 June 2026OpenWay announced collaboration with Visa to help financial institutions in Asia Pacific launch new payment products more efficiently on OpenWay's Way4 platform. The partnership enables banks, processors, and fintechs to deploy selected Visa payment capabilities including Visa Flexible Credential and Visa Fleet 2.0 with simplified implementation and shortened deployment timelines. The collaboration strengthens Visa's strategy of embedding payment technologies deeper into the financial services ecosystem.
• UnionPay InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 March 2026OpenWay and UnionPay International expanded their partnership to deliver complete UnionPay product support on Way4. The partnership enables Way4 clients worldwide to issue, acquire, and tokenize UnionPay cards. The first global launch of Big Pay functionality for UnionPay cards on Way4 was achieved with six major banks in Central Asia. The partnership builds on OpenWay's two-decade history with UnionPay, including powering the first UnionPay card issuance in Kazakhstan in 2004.
• BORICA ADcoreTechnology or IntegrationBORICA AD, Bulgaria's national card and payment infrastructure operator, partnered with OpenWay to lead the country's euro adoption transition on January 1, 2026. OpenWay's Way4 platform supported card issuance, acceptance, and processing operations during the national-scale payments transformation. Over 930,000 card and ATM transactions worth nearly EUR 42 million were processed within the first 48 hours with zero unplanned downtime.
• Network InternationalcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNetwork International is the exclusive partner and reseller of OpenWay solutions for Middle East and Africa markets. The partnership powers Network One platform based on Way4, with Network International having led migrations for 15+ banks in the region including Emirates NBD. Network International reports $490M revenue and serves 70,000+ merchants and 200 financial institutions.
• NexicoreTechnology or IntegrationOpenWay provides Nexi (European payment processor) with the Way4 platform, supporting 3.5x net revenue increase over three years for the client.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• ACI Worldwide: ACI Worldwide is a direct competitor in payments orchestration, real-time transaction processing, card issuing, merchant acquiring, and fraud management — overlapping head-to-head with Way4 across nearly every core module.
• Marqeta: Marqeta is a direct competitor in modern card issuing and Card-as-a-Service for fintechs and banks, competing with Way4 Card Issuing and Way4 CaaS on speed-to-market and developer experience.
• Galileo Financial Technologies: Galileo is a direct competitor providing card issuing, payment processing, and digital banking infrastructure APIs for fintechs and challenger banks — comparable core functionality to Way4's issuing and processing modules.
• i2c: i2c provides multi-product card issuing and processing (debit, credit, prepaid, commercial) with SaaS-style delivery — directly comparable to Way4 Card Issuing and Way4 CaaS, particularly for fintech and processor clients.

Emerging players

• Thought Machine: Thought Machine is a cloud-native core banking and payments platform used by tier-1 banks as a modern alternative to legacy digital banking systems; it competes with Way4 on digital banking infrastructure and bank modernization RFPs.
• Mambu: Mambu is a cloud-based core banking and lending platform for challenger banks, fintechs, and telcos; it competes with Way4 on digital banking, wallet, and card issuance capabilities for fintech-tier clients.

Broad incumbents

• Temenos: Temenos is a global digital banking and core banking platform incumbent that serves tier-1 banks with card, payments, and digital channels — competing broadly with Way4 in tier-1 modernization deals.
• Fiserv: Fiserv is a broad incumbent offering merchant acquiring (Clover, Carat), card issuing, and digital banking capabilities that overlap with multiple Way4 modules for US-centric and global banks/processors.
• FIS (Fidelity National Information Services): FIS is a broad incumbent in banking and payments technology with card issuing, payment processing, and digital banking solutions that compete with Way4 across the global tier-1 bank procurement landscape.

Regional players

• Network International: Network International is a MEA-focused payments processor that is simultaneously OpenWay's exclusive reseller and a regional competitor deploying Way4-based 'Network One' alongside proprietary capabilities across MEA banks.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/openwaygroup
• YouTubeyoutube.com/openwaygroup
• Facebookfacebook.com/Openwaygroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/openway
• Instagraminstagram.com/openway_group

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments2 records

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

Frequently asked questions about OpenWay Group