Payshop

What Payshop does

Payshop (Portugal), S.A. is a Banco de Portugal-licensed payment institution and wholly-owned subsidiary of CTT - Correios de Portugal, S.A., operating Portugal's largest in-person payment network with 7,000+ payment points and 5,000+ retail agents nationwide. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Lisbon, the company connects physical proximity retailers (papelarias, tabacarias, quiosques, supermarkets) and CTT post offices to billers, utilities, public-transport operators, mobile carriers, and municipal services via real-time POS terminals, enabling consumers without bank cards or online access to pay utility bills, taxes, tolls, transport tickets, mobile top-ups, and prepaid cards in cash.

The company's product surface combines a physical agent rail with a digital layer: POP (Payshop Online Payments) provides an e-commerce payment gateway aggregating Visa/Mastercard, MB WAY, Multibanco references, and Payshop references via REST API and plugins for WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Shopkit, and Loja Online CTT; POP by Link and QR Code Pay extend acceptance to merchants without websites and to bill presentment via camera-scanned QR codes. Sector-specific solutions include the Cartão Escolar Pré-Pago municipal school card (80+ municipalities, 300,000+ student accounts, integrated with SIGA and Microio school-management systems), transport title loading (CARRIS, navegante®/TML, TIP, Horários do Funchal, Transportes Urbanos de Braga, Rede Expressos), and Western Union money transfers. The business model is transaction-based: free to consumers at agent points, with merchants, utilities, transport operators, and municipalities paying per-transaction fees and the network capturing prepaid-card and top-up commissions.

Name

Payshop

Legal name

Payshop (Portugal), S.A.

Website

https://payshop.pt

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Payshop is Portugal's largest in-person payment network, operating 7,000+ payment points and 5,000+ retail agents as a Banco de Portugal-licensed payment institution and CTT subsidiary, serving cash-preferring consumers, municipalities, utilities, transport operators, and e-commerce merchants with bill payment, transport ticketing, school prepaid cards, and digital gateways.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Processing Services

akta.pro primary industry

Agent-Assisted / Retail Bill Payment Networks (FSAMAJAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Bill Pay, Invoicing & Payables Platforms (BPAMAFAF), Bank-to-Bank Transfers & Pay-by-Bank (Consumer & Merchant) (FSAMAFAC), Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) & Local Rails (ACH/SEPA/UPI, etc.) (CRAFALAG)

Keywords

• Payment processing services
• Bill payment network
• Cash payment agents
• Online payment gateway
• Prepaid card services

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisbon

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Payment Processing - Consumer Services: Payshop charges transaction fees to businesses and utilities for processing bill payments, mobile top-ups, and transport ticket sales through its agent network. The service is free for end consumers.
2. Prepaid Products Commission: Commission from selling prepaid cards (gaming, entertainment, mobile) including PlayStation, Nintendo, Netflix, Spotify Premium, and Paysafecard in ticket format.
3. Online Payment Gateway (POP): Transaction-based fees for processing online payments via POP platform. Merchants pay per transaction with no setup or monthly fees.
4. School Prepaid Card Services: Municipal prepaid card management system for education payments. Card loading available via Payshop agents, Multibanco, and MB Way.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Payshop operates Portugal's largest in-person payment network, providing cash-based and card-based bill payment, mobile top-ups, transport ticketing, prepaid gaming/entertainment cards, toll and tax payment, school prepaid cards, and Western Union money transfers through 5,000+ retail agents and CTT post offices. It complements this physical network with a digital payment gateway (POP), payment-link service (POP by Link), and QR-code bill payment (QR Code Pay) for e-commerce merchants, utilities, municipalities, and transport operators.

Product overview

Payshop is a payment services institution regulated by Banco de Portugal, operating as a subsidiary of CTT (Portugal's postal service). The company offers a multi-channel payment platform comprising: (1) POP - Payshop Online Payments, an e-commerce gateway with plugins for WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Shopkit, and direct API REST integration; (2) POP by Link for payment link generation; (3) QR Code Pay for QR-based bill payments; (4) physical agent network of 7,000+ payment points for cash/card bill payment, mobile top-ups, transport ticketing, prepaid cards, tax/toll payments, and Western Union transfers; and (5) Cartão Escolar Pré-Pago, a municipal prepaid school card system. The core offering is the Agent Network - the largest in-person payment network in Portugal - complemented by digital payment solutions for e-commerce and utilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• POP - Payshop Online Payments: Online payment gateway solution enabling merchants to accept various payment methods including Multibanco reference, MB WAY, Visa/MasterCard, and Payshop reference for e-commerce.
• POP by Link
• QR Code Pay
• Cartão Escolar Pré-Pago

Products and services

• POP - Payshop Online Payments

Quantifiable outcome

• School prepaid cards now serve over 300,000 users across 80+ municipalities
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and strategic.

• VisacoreTechnology or Integration · 16 April 2026Strategic partnership for accepting card payments across the Payshop agent network. Visa provides card processing infrastructure enabling Payshop to accept Visa cards at over 7,000 payment points, transforming from cash-only to multi-channel payments.
• Shift4coreTechnology or Integration · 16 April 2026Technology provider supplying the POS terminal technology that enables card acceptance across the entire Payshop network. Shift4's technology powers the innovation of accepting card payments at physical agents.
• Rede Expressos (RNE)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 21 September 2023Partnership for national and international bus ticket sales through 5,000+ Payshop agents.
• Município de AvisminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 2 August 2023Municipal partnership for water bill payment at Payshop locations serving Alto Alentejo region.
• SMAS de AlmadaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 7 June 2023Municipal water and sanitation utility enabling customers to pay bills at all Payshop channels.
• Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa (TML)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 May 2023Partnership to become the new loading network for navegante® transport titles. Payshop agents now offer carregamento/recarregamento of transport titles, more than doubling available sales points immediately.
• BHMIstrategicTechnology or Integration · 15 October 2021Technology partner for back-office transformation and core system modernization. BHMI is assisting Payshop in preparing its payments back-office for omnichannel support and real-time payment capabilities.
• Águas Públicas da Serra da Estrela (APdSE)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 15 April 2021Water utility serving Seia, Gouveia, and Oliveira do Hospital enabling bill payment through Payshop.
• Município de Lagoa (Açores)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 31 March 2021Municipal partnership for water bill payment serving the Azores region with 100+ Payshop payment points.
• SMAS Caldas da RainhaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 27 October 2020Municipal water and sanitation services for Caldas da Rainha enabling bill payment through Payshop.
• Tejo AmbienteminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 6 October 2020Intermunicipal environment company serving Médio Tejo municipalities (Ferreira do Zêzere, Mação, Sardoal, Tomar, Ourém, Vila Nova da Barquinha) enabling bill payments through Payshop.
• EduboxcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 September 2020Strategic partnership for developing the Cartão Escolar Pré-Pago (School Prepaid Card) solution for municipalities. Edubox provides the SIGA education management platform implemented in over 200 municipalities.
• Inovar MaiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 September 2020Strategic partnership for the Cartão Escolar Pré-Pago municipal education payment solution. Contributes to the integrated school payment system alongside Edubox.
• EpayminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 16 September 2020Partnership for expanding prepaid product offerings to include Spotify Premium in Payshop agent network.
• Águas do Baixo Mondego e Gândara (ABMG)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 16 April 2020Intermunicipal water company serving Mira, Montemor-o-Velho, and Soure with approximately 30,000 customers.
• MicroiostrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 February 2020Partnership for school card loading services (Unicard Sige system). Microio provides the school management system covering approximately 50% of public schools in mainland Portugal and most schools in the Azores.
• Município da BatalhaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 19 August 2019Municipal partnership for water bill payment in the Batalha district.
• Transportes Intermodais do Porto (TIP)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 April 2019Partnership for Andante ticket sales and loading at Payshop agents in the Porto metropolitan area. Supports multiple ticket types including municipal, metropolitan, and social tariff variants.
• Horários do FunchalminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 April 2019Partnership for transport ticket sales in Madeira. Giro passes available for municipal and intermunicipal travel on the island.
• Transportes Urbanos de BragaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 April 2019Partnership for urban transport ticket sales in Braga through Payshop agents.
• CARRIScoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 April 2019Long-standing partnership (15+ years) for CARRIS transport ticket sales and loading. Over 300 agents with CARRIS service now also load free passes. Partnership expanded to include intermodal and combined tickets.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• SIBS (Multibanco / MB WAY): SIBS operates the dominant Multibanco ATM and payment reference network in Portugal and the MB WAY mobile wallet. Payshop interoperates with both, and SIBS is the closest comparable in terms of domestic payment infrastructure breadth, though it is a broader incumbent rather than a direct retail-agent competitor.
• Euronet Worldwide: Euronet operates ATM, POS, and money transfer networks globally, including retail payment services. Comparable to Payshop's combination of physical payment points and value-added services, but at significantly larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• Western Union: Western Union is a global money transfer and bill payment operator that uses Payshop agents as cash-service locations. Comparable in cross-border/cash-bill payment rails, though Western Union is far broader in geographic scope and brand.
• Stripe: Stripe is a global online payment gateway that competes with Payshop's POP platform for e-commerce merchants. While POP targets Portugal-centric merchants with Multibanco/MB WAY aggregation, Stripe competes for the same cross-border digital checkout volume.
• Adyen: Adyen is a global payment processor serving enterprise merchants. As Payshop rolls out card acceptance (2026), Adyen represents the type of incumbent omnichannel acquirer it will increasingly compete with for enterprise payment volume.
• CTT - Correios de Portugal: CTT is Payshop's publicly listed parent company on Euronext Lisbon, also operating postal, banking (Banco CTT), and retail services. Payshop is the payments arm within the CTT Group and shares customer touchpoints (CTT shops, postal network) for service distribution.

Direct peers

• PayPoint: PayPoint operates retail payment networks in the UK and Romania for bill payments, top-ups, transport ticketing, and cash services through convenience stores. It is the closest international analogue to Payshop's physical agent model and bill-payment proposition.
• epay (Blackhawk Network): epay distributes prepaid products (gaming, entertainment, mobile top-ups) and operates retail payment networks. Payshop already partners with epay for Spotify Premium prepaid cards, indicating direct operational overlap in retail-rail prepaid distribution.

Emerging players

• Vodafone M-Pesa: M-Pesa is a mobile money platform focused on financial inclusion and cash-in/cash-out through retail agents across multiple emerging markets. Comparable business model to Payshop's agent-based cash services and unbanked-consumer targeting, but with mobile-first delivery rather than terminal-first.
• Paga (Nigeria): Paga is a Nigeria-based mobile payment platform offering agent-based cash-in/cash-out, bill payments, and merchant services. Conceptually comparable to Payshop in agent-network-driven cash bill payments, though operating in a different regulatory and digital-payments maturity context.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=Jr_6j_UelH4
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/payshop-portugal

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Payshop