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Round-up: Top Organizations Leading in Embedded Finance

How these tech pioneers are seamlessly integrating financial services into everyday platforms

Allison Karavos

August 16, 2024

Embedded finance has quickly emerged as a game-changer in the industry, with a predicted global market size of $348.8 billion by 2029, at a growth rate of 30% CAGR from 2023-2029. By seamlessly integrating financial services into non-financial platforms, companies are able to streamline operations and enhance the customer experience, creating frictionless journeys and improving customer loyalty and retention. Major players are on both sides of the fence – both those successfully weaving financial services directly into their core offerings, and those supporting this wave of tech innovation with cutting-edge solutions and APIs that empower embedded financial services. We’re looking at both – how these industry leaders are dominating the embedded finance area and the crucial role their tech partners play in making this integration happen.

Based in Asia, this online eCommerce platform brings together a ton of small producers who sell everything from clothing and accessories to electronics and sporting goods. Originally created by the Alibaba group over a decade ago, the website operates similarly to Amazon, but doesn’t produce anything of its own – instead its platform is a showcase for others, bringing a number of products into one site and facilitating easy payment options.
Originally founded in Poland and now available worldwide, Booksy is a leading appointment management platform for wellness/beauty/health providers, allowing customers to book local appointments for haircuts, massages, and aesthetic services. With the integration of Stripe, they were able to embed payment processing directly into their app, including an omnichannel solution that allows Booksy merchants to collect payments in person, within the app, or at the time of booking, ensuring seamless payment experiences for customers.
The world’s favorite ride-share app, Uber offers in-app payments, ride insurance (to protect both riders and drivers), and instant drive payouts, ensuring a seamless payment experience for riders and immediate access to earnings for drivers. They’ve also expanded to offer food delivery options, as well as a variety of different ride types to appeal to a wider range of customers.
The undisputed gold standard of eCommerce is Amazon, offering embedded finance in a variety of ways, including payment, lending, and Buy Now, Pay Later options. With integrated payment and finance options across a variety of global sites and sellers, Amazon enhances customer convenience and supports its wide range of sellers with quick financing and access to funds.
Canadian success story Shopify simplifies payment processing for merchants in a variety of industries, offering them quick access to funding and financial management tools. Now a multinational organization with embedded offerings available on their proprietary eCommerce platform, their solutions include a variety of types of products that focus on everything from online storefronts and point of sale options, to returns management, shipping, order fulfillment, B2B, and financial management.
A name recognizable to the entire world, Apple is one of the pioneers of embedded financing, making Apple Pay a widely used option for everyone (read, millions and millions of people) who owns iPhones. With Apple Pay, Apple Card, and Apple Cash, they’ve integrated secure and convenient payment options directly into Apple devices (including watches), offering a frictionless payment experience for users.
The Starbucks app, which began as a way to improve customer loyalty by allowing users to earn rewards points on purchases, has quickly morphed into an extremely convenient rewards/payment system. You can reload funds to your mobile card at the click of a button, pay in-app for purchases, order ahead, earn rewards points, and then redeem them seamlessly, enhancing customer loyalty and ensuring a positive experience end-to-end for customers.
An American multinational financial services company, Stripe offers a comprehensive suite of payment processing APIs and financial infrastructure for businesses, enabling organizations of all sizes to easily integrate payment services into their platforms. With millions of customers worldwide, including well-known brands like Marriott, BMW, and WhatsApp, their fully integrated payments products are used to optimize checkout conversion and launch new business models effortlessly.
Similar to Stripe, Plaid works behind the scenes of some of your favorite brands, providing APIs for secure access to financial data and services that enable seamless connections between financial services and apps. Based in the U.S. but operating in a number of countries across North America and Europe, Plaid enables consumer apps to effortlessly connect with users’ bank accounts in a secure way.
Providing card issuing and payment processing technology, Marqeta is used by industry leaders in a variety of use cases, including on-demand delivery, expense management, retail, and digital banking. By enabling companies to create customized payment cards and solutions, they facilitate embedded financial services for their customers to allow them to deliver exceptional, brand-elevating customer card experiences.
Providing seamless payment options for insurance premiums, along with instant, personalized insurance quotes and policy management through its online platform, Walnut Insurance is a prime example of embedded finance in the insurance industry. They offer value-added services that go beyond traditional insurance, including wellness benefits and services like access to mental health resources, directly into their platform, exemplifying the innovative use of embedded finance.
A platform focused on B2B trade platforms, distributors, and brands across the B2B supply chain, Balance powers the entire transaction lifecycle, with software and APIs that allow merchants and marketplaces to accept business payments, optimize AR, and extend trade credit. By focusing entirely on B2B, they’ve built a platform that incorporates all aspects of financing and payment processing to enable innovation and growth for their customers.
Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, Grab provides everyday services including deliveries, hotel bookings, gift cards, and ridesharing, while also embedding financial services like payments, insurance, and micro-lending. With a goal to enhance customer convenience and drive engagement, they offer services for consumers, drivers, merchants, and even enterprises – driving economic empowerment for everyone in the region.
Based in Argentina and boasting one of the largest user bases in Latin America, Mercado Pago enhances eCommerce by integrating financial services that support seamless transactions and provide credit options to both buyers and sellers, including digital wallet, payment processing, and financing plans.
In part an online marketplace, Synchrony allows you to find deals on whatever your heart desires, and then provides you with various ways to pay, including credit cards, personalized financing offers, and Buy Now, Pay Later plans. They also offer individualized banking plans and products, financial solutions for businesses, and even healthcare financing for you, your family and your furry friends.

Companies across the globe are leading the charge in embedding finance into their services, transforming customer experiences, and driving growth. These examples (among many!) demonstrate the immense potential of embedded finance to streamline operations, enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty, and open new revenue streams. For those looking to explore embedded financing options, Provenir’s AI-powered risk decisioning solutions can enable you to integrate financial services seamlessly, manage risk effectively across the lifecycle, and deliver exceptional value to your customers.