This case study looks at how PAYSTRAX and Axcess work together to deliver secure, scalable payment solutions across the UK and Europe. It sets a clear picture of PAYSTRAX today: a direct acquirer that’s scaled quickly while staying close to the merchant relationships its partnerships depend on.
Overview
Founded in 2018, PAYSTRAX operates as a direct Visa and Mastercard acquirer, serving over 1,500 merchants through a network of more than 50 partners. Unlike acquirers that operate through layers of intermediary banking relationships, PAYSTRAX holds its position directly with the card schemes – a structural difference that shapes everything from onboarding speed to how quickly decisions get made on a merchant’s behalf.
As co-founder and CEO Jóhannes Ingi Kolbeinsson puts it in the spotlight:
“We started PAYSTRAX with a simple idea, that complex payment acceptance shouldn’t be complicated for the merchant.”
That idea has stayed central as the company has scaled – from a small team building acquiring capability from scratch to a business now recognised among Europe’s fastest-growing.
Market Position
Being a direct acquirer changes what a partnership can deliver, and it’s a distinction the spotlight returns to more than once. Tom Suter, Regional Sales Director, explains what sets PAYSTRAX apart from other players in the space:
“What makes PAYSTRAX different in today’s payments landscape is that we combine the strength of a direct Visa and Mastercard acquirer with the agility and service mindset of a specialist fintech.”
That combination – the infrastructure of a direct acquirer with the responsiveness usually associated with smaller, specialist providers – is what the article positions as the real differentiator. For Axcess, it means being able to route merchants to an acquiring partner that won’t slow decisions down with unnecessary layers, while still getting a level of service and flexibility that larger, more bureaucratic acquirers often can’t match. For merchants, it translates into faster onboarding, quicker resolution when something needs attention, and pricing that reflects a more direct relationship with the schemes themselves.
Growth Milestones
PAYSTRAX’s growth trajectory since launching acquiring operations tells a clear story of pace and momentum:
✓ Achieved profitability within five months of launching acquiring operations in 2021 – an unusually fast timeline for a new acquiring business to turn a profit
✓ Secured FCA authorisation in 2023, extending PAYSTRAX’s regulatory footprint into the UK market
✓ Acquired UK payments provider Nochex in 2025, expanding both its merchant base and its UK presence
✓ Ranked 148th in the Financial Times FT1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies list for 2026, placing PAYSTRAX among a relatively small group of European fintechs recognised at that scale
Taken together, these milestones tell a consistent story: a company that moved quickly from launch to profitability, then used both regulatory expansion and acquisition to grow its footprint further.
Service Offering
PAYSTRAX’s core offering, as described in the spotlight, spans PCI DSS-compliant payment gateways, POS solutions, Apple pay and Google Pay digital wallet support, and multi-currency processing across all ISO currencies – with settlement available in 17 fiat currencies as well as stablecoins – alongside marketplace and PayFac solutions for platforms managing multiple sellers. It’s a broad enough stack to cover most of what a growing merchant base actually needs, from a single high street retailer taking card payments to a marketplace platform settling payouts across dozens of sub-merchants.
Partnership Value
The spotlight frames the value of the Axcess-PAYSTRAX partnership as complementary rather than overlapping: PAYSTRAX brings direct acquiring capabilities and regulatory standing, while Axcess brings a consultative, merchant-focused approach built around understanding each business’s specific needs. Together, the two deliver streamlined onboarding, faster decision-making, and tailored solutions for merchants operating across multiple international markets – the kind of combination that’s difficult for either a pure acquirer or a pure consultancy to offer alone.
Conclusion
This partnership reflects a theme consistent across PAYSTRAX’s work with other partners: direct acquiring infrastructure works best when it’s paired with a partner who understands the merchant relationship. For Axcess and PAYSTRAX, that combination is what turns speed and market access into a genuinely better experience for merchants.
Read the full case study here.