← Embedded Finance Index 2026

Authorize.net

Also a provider — view Authorize.net’s profile →

“Can Visa's legacy SMB gateway remain relevant against Stripe, Square, and PayPal by leaning into AI, embedded fraud, and Visa-network integration?”

Founded1996
HQFoster City, California, United States
IndustryInfrastructure / Payments
The story

Founded in 1996 as a pioneer internet payment gateway, Authorize.Net was acquired serially — Go2Net (1999), Lightbridge (2004), CyberSource (2007) — landing inside Visa in 2010 when Visa bought CyberSource. Today it operates as Visa's gateway product for SMB merchants in the US, UK/Europe, and Australia, with the underlying legal entity being Authorize.Net LLC (North America) and CyberSource Payment Solutions Pty Ltd (APAC). The 2026 redesign leans into AI (Ask Anet), Tap to Pay, and unifying gateway + acquiring for small business, competing directly with Stripe/Square/PayPal on price and merchant simplicity.

Last 12 months
2026
Product timeline
1996
Founded as Authorize.Net, Inc. in American Fork, Utah as a payment gateway service provider.· founding
1999
Acquired by Go2Net.· acquisition
2004
Acquired by Lightbridge.· acquisition
2007
Acquired by CyberSource; headquarters moved to Foster City, California.· acquisition
2010
Became part of Visa Inc. via Visa's acquisition of CyberSource.· acquisition
2026
Redesigned platform launched with AI support tool 'Ask Anet', built-in fraud prevention, and Tap to Pay/mobile POS, positioned as 'powered by Visa's payments ecosystem'.· product
The stack
4 layers disclosed in Authorize.net’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Authorize.net (self-operated)CyberSource (self-operated)checkoutworldpayglobal paymentselavonStripe
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
9 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.