Nexi
“Can a European payment infrastructure incumbent successfully transition into a full-stack PayTech platform — selling issuing-as-a-service, open banking, and acquiring to banks and fintechs — while defending its dominant acquiring position against Worldpay and Adyen?”
Founded as a banking utility in Italy, Nexi evolved from a domestic card-processing and ATM network into a broad European PayTech through the landmark mergers with Nets (Nordic acquirer) and SIA (Italian payment infrastructure). Post-merger, the company repositioned as a B2B PayTech selling acquiring, issuing-as-a-service, and open banking infrastructure to banks and fintechs. The February 2026 launch of Nexi Ready signals a deliberate move into issuing-as-a-service, competing with Marqeta and Stripe Issuing for bank and fintech card programs across Europe.