What Edgar, Dunn & Company does

Edgar, Dunn & Company is an independent global strategy consulting firm founded in 1978 and headquartered in San Francisco, specializing exclusively in payments and fintech. The firm serves eleven dedicated sector practices spanning payments networks, fintech, payment service providers and acquirers, retail and hospitality, issuers and account providers, travel and transport, payment networks, investors and private equity, technology providers, government and regulators, and B2B and commercial payments. Its three service lines are Strategy Consulting, M&A Advisory, and Litigation & Arbitration Support, delivered through a borderless model from offices in San Francisco, London, Paris, Dubai, and Singapore.

The firm's productized IP centers on three proprietary offerings: 360° Payment Diagnostic™, a methodology that identifies revenue uplift and cost-reduction opportunities across acceptance, processing, and issuing functions; PartnerSelect™, an independent advisory framework for selecting payment technology partners and vendors; and InsightVault™, launched in 2024 as an AI engine that transforms market research into real-time insight. EDC also publishes the annual Advanced Payments & Fintech Report (18th edition released in 2026) and runs an internal AI Taskforce focused on Agentic Commerce implications across the payments ecosystem.

EDC operates a project-based, sales-led professional services model with no publicly disclosed pricing. New business originates through direct outreach, website inquiries, professional referrals, and thought-leadership content — articles, whitepapers, the EDC Podcast, webinars, and conference participation at events such as Payment Leaders' Summit, World Aviation Festival, and Gaming Leaders' Summit. Documented scale signals include advisory on M&A deals and IPOs totaling more than $35 billion over the past five years, quantifiable client outcomes (e.g., $10–15M revenue opportunities for a North American airline, $100M at-risk revenue protected for a global hotel chain, US$5.6M saved for a Middle East retailer), and a board expanded with three new Directors in October 2025 to support growth.

Name

Edgar, Dunn & Company

Legal name

Edgar, Dunn & Company

Website

https://edgardunn.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Edgar, Dunn & Company is an independent global payments and fintech consultancy founded in 1978, serving clients across payments, retail, hospitality, travel, banking, and fintech through strategy consulting, M&A advisory, and proprietary diagnostic methodologies from offices in San Francisco, London, Paris, Dubai, and Singapore.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Strategy Consulting: Project-based consulting engagements providing strategic advisory services to payments and fintech clients across various sectors including retail, hospitality, travel, banking, and technology.
2. M&A Advisory: Transaction support and commercial due diligence services for private equity and corporate clients in the payments sector, including market sizing, competitive analysis, and technology review.
3. Litigation & Arbitration Support: Expert witness and dispute resolution support services for legal proceedings involving payment industry matters.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Edgar, Dunn & Company is an independent global payments and fintech consultancy offering Strategy Consulting, M&A Advisory, and Litigation & Arbitration Support services. These services are augmented by three proprietary products: 360° Payment Diagnostic™ (payment optimization methodology), PartnerSelect™ (vendor selection advisory), and InsightVault™ (AI-powered market intelligence engine). The firm serves clients across 11 sectors including payments, fintech, retail, hospitality, travel, banking, and government regulators.

Product overview

Edgar, Dunn & Company is a global strategy consulting firm specializing in payments and fintech, offering a portfolio of three proprietary consulting products and three core service lines. The product suite centers on the 360° Payment Diagnostic™ methodology for payment optimization, PartnerSelect™ for vendor selection advisory, and InsightVault™ for AI-powered real-time market intelligence. These products are complemented by Strategy Consulting, M&A Advisory, and Litigation & Arbitration Support services. The firm serves clients across 11 sectors including Payments, Fintech, Retail & Hospitality, Travel & Transport, and Government & Regulators. EDC also publishes industry research including the annual Advanced Payments & Fintech Report and regional reports such as the UK Payments & Fintech Report.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 360° Payment Diagnostic™: A proprietary payment diagnostic methodology used to identify and prioritize opportunities to increase revenues and reduce costs for clients.
• PartnerSelect™
• InsightVault™
• The EDC Podcast

Products and services

• Strategy Consulting Core consulting service providing strategic advisory on payments optimization, digital innovation, market entry, and business transformation for payments and fintech clients across 11 sectors.
• M&A Advisory Advisory services for mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs in the payments sector, including commercial due diligence and portfolio value creation. EDC has advised on deals worth over $35 billion in the past five years.
• Litigation & Arbitration Support Expert witness and dispute resolution support services for legal proceedings involving payment industry disputes, regulatory matters, and commercial conflicts.
• 360° Payment Diagnostic™ Proprietary diagnostic methodology that identifies and prioritizes opportunities to increase revenues and reduce payment acceptance costs for clients across sectors including airlines, retailers, and hospitality merchants.
• PartnerSelect™ Provides objective and independent advisory services for selecting optimal payment technology partners, vendors, and service providers based on client-specific requirements and market analysis.
• InsightVault™ Transforms market research into real-time insight using EDC's proprietary AI engine, enabling clients to access synthesized industry intelligence and competitive analysis across payments and fintech.

Quantifiable outcome

• EDC identified ~$10-15M in revenue opportunities and $5-10M in cost savings over 3 years for a major North American airline through payment optimization.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered key and minor.

• NuveikeyStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 October 2025Edgar, Dunn & Company co-published a study with Nuvei revealing that $117 billion in airline revenue is at risk in 2025 due to payment failures. The joint research highlighted regional differences in payment preferences and emphasized benefits of payment orchestration to improve approval rates. This represents a significant research and thought leadership partnership.
• CyberSourcekeyStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 June 2020Joint whitepaper publication on C-Level KPIs for Payment in association with Fevad and Mercatel. EDC and CyberSource collaborated on research analyzing payment KPIs and fraud metrics for merchant organizations, demonstrating joint thought leadership in payments and fraud management.
• PayPalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPayPal participated as a panelist representing fintech perspective at the Payment Leaders' Summit (PLS) 2026, where EDC's Mark Beresford provided post-event summary and analysis. PayPal contributed to Agentic Commerce panel discussion alongside other ecosystem participants.
• GoogleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGoogle participated as a technology provider panelist at PLS 2026, contributing to Agentic Commerce discussion alongside EDC analysis. Represented technology ecosystem perspective on AI-powered commerce and payment implications.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Datos Insights (formerly Aite-Novarica Group): Independent research and advisory firm focused exclusively on financial services, including payments, banking, and fintech. Closely comparable to EDC in its specialist positioning, research-driven thought leadership (similar to EDC's annual reports), and enterprise advisory engagements.
• Celent (an Oliver Wyman business): Research and advisory firm focused on technology and innovation in financial services, with deep payments coverage. Comparable to EDC through its practitioner-led advisory model, sector-specific research publications, and tier-one financial institution client base.
• Innopay: Amsterdam-based consultancy specializing in payments, digital identity, and digital transactions. Comparable as a specialist payments boutique with European geographic overlap (similar to EDC's London/Paris presence) and comparable service offerings in strategy and innovation advisory.
• CMSPI: UK-based payments consultancy focused on merchant cost optimization and acquiring analysis. Direct comparable to EDC's 360° Payment Diagnostic™ practice, serving similar merchant and acquirer clients with payments cost optimization engagements.
• PSE Consulting: Independent payments consultancy providing strategy, market sizing, and transaction advisory across cards, payments, and fintech. Closely comparable to EDC's M&A advisory practice and commercial due diligence work for PE and strategic clients in payments.

Broad incumbents

• Accenture Payments Consulting: Global management consulting giant with a large payments practice serving banks, networks, merchants, and fintechs. Competes with EDC for enterprise payments strategy mandates but at vastly greater scale and broader capability portfolio.
• McKinsey & Company (Payments Practice): Top-tier global strategy consultancy with an established payments and banking practice. Competes with EDC for senior-level payments strategy engagements, particularly among Tier 1 financial institutions and large merchants, though at materially larger engagement scale.
• Oliver Wyman (Financial Services): Global management consulting firm with deep financial services and payments advisory practice (parent of Celent). Comparable to EDC for enterprise payments strategy work, with greater bench scale and additional proprietary research assets via Celent.

Regional players

• Juniper Research: UK-headquartered payments and fintech research and consulting firm producing market sizing, forecasts, and strategic advisory. Comparable to EDC's research publication arm (Advanced Payments & Fintech Report) and serves a partially overlapping enterprise client base across Europe and globally.

Emerging players

• Payments Cards & Mobile: Specialist payments industry research and consulting firm focused on cards, mobile payments, and emerging payment methods. Comparable to EDC's narrower payments research and advisory scope, serving similar industry stakeholders but with smaller scale and more concentrated geographic footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/edgar-dunn-&-company
• Xx.com/edgardunn

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 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 Edgar, Dunn & Company