Checkout.com was founded in 2012 by Guillaume Pousaz, a Swiss-born entrepreneur based in London. The company operates as a full-stack payment processor — meaning it handles everything from the checkout page to card network processing to settlement, without relying on third-party intermediaries for most of the chain.
This end-to-end ownership is the main differentiator. While many payment companies act as aggregators routing transactions through processors like Worldpay or Adyen, Checkout.com built its own acquiring infrastructure. That gives merchants more control over authorization rates, routing logic, and settlement timing.
Checkout.com’s client list is heavy on enterprise and high-growth companies: Shopify, Klarna, Coinbase, Revolut, Sony, Samsung, Deliveroo, and Grab are among its users. The platform processes payments in over 150 currencies across 50+ countries.
The company raised $1 billion in a Series D round in January 2022 at a $40 billion valuation, making it the most valuable European fintech startup at the time. However, as fintech valuations corrected, Checkout.com’s internal valuation was marked down to around $11 billion by late 2023.
Despite the valuation reset, Checkout.com’s underlying business continued growing. The company processes hundreds of billions in annual payment volume and has been profitable on an EBITDA basis. Pousaz retains majority control of the company. It’s headquartered in London with offices in Paris, Dubai, Singapore, New York, and San Francisco.
