“Can PayPal's enterprise payment rails become the default global processor for the world's largest merchants?”
Founded 2007 in Chicago as a developer-friendly payment gateway and merchant account for online businesses. Acquired Venmo in 2012 and was itself acquired by PayPal in 2013 for $800M, becoming PayPal's enterprise-grade payment processing arm. By 2026, Braintree has been rebranded/absorbed as 'PayPal Enterprise Payments' inside the PayPal Open platform — the same product, but positioned as PayPal's end-to-end enterprise payments stack rather than a standalone brand.
Braintree processes payments through Braintree (self-operated), PayPal (self-operated), Venmo (self-operated), checkout and Braintree. Disclosed money-movement rails: ACH.
Braintree's lending and capital products are provided by PayPal Working Capital (self-operated) and PayPal Business Loan (self-operated).
Braintree uses PayPal Payouts (self-operated) and Enterprise Payouts (self-operated) for FX and cross-border payouts.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 5 layers in Braintree's stack: Payments / PSP (Braintree (self-operated), PayPal (self-operated), Venmo (self-operated), checkout and 1 other); Money movement (ACH); Lending (PayPal Working Capital (self-operated), PayPal Business Loan (self-operated), PayPal Working Capital Loan and PayPal Business Loan); FX & payouts (PayPal Payouts (self-operated) and Enterprise Payouts (self-operated)); Tax (Anrok).
Braintree was founded by Bryan Johnson and is founded in 2007, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Braintree has raised $69M (pre-acquisition) in total (latest round: Acquired by PayPal, September 2013; valuation: $800M (acquisition price)).
Braintree's acquisitions include Venmo (2012).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Braintree and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.