Paypal

PayPal is the world's most widely used online payment platform, with over 400 million active accounts across more than 200 markets globally. Founded in 1998 (initially as Confinity, merging with Elon Musk's X.com in 2000), PayPal was acquired by eBay in 2002 and spun off as an independent public company again in 2015. That independence unlocked a period of significant growth and product expansion, as PayPal pursued its vision of becoming a comprehensive digital wallet and financial services platform.

For consumers, PayPal offers a familiar and trusted way to pay online without entering card details on each merchant site — a friction-reduction that remains genuinely valuable. PayPal's consumer product also includes Venmo (peer-to-peer payments, popular in the US), Pay Later (BNPL instalment payment), and the PayPal app which is evolving into a broader financial services hub.

PayPal for merchants

For e-commerce businesses and marketplaces, PayPal remains one of the most important checkout options globally. Offering PayPal at checkout consistently improves conversion rates — particularly for first-time purchasers on an unfamiliar site who trust PayPal as a security layer. PayPal's buyer protection and dispute resolution are important trust signals. Braintree (PayPal's payments infrastructure subsidiary) handles payment processing for many of the world's largest e-commerce platforms.

PayPal's international reach is one of its strongest assets. With support for over 25 currencies and localised payment methods in many markets, it simplifies cross-border e-commerce for brands selling internationally — both by accepting payment from international buyers and by making payouts to sellers across different markets straightforward and reliable.