CloudWalk from acquiring to merchant OS

CloudWalk’s edge is that card acquiring is not just a payments business, it is the data and distribution engine for a broader merchant finance stack. InfinitePay started by fixing a concrete pain point for Brazil’s micro merchants, cheaper card acceptance with next day settlement instead of 30 day waits, then used those daily payment flows to sell digital accounts, payment links, working capital loans, free Pix, and Pix Credit. Cards remain the biggest revenue driver at roughly half of revenue, but newer products are lifting revenue per merchant beyond swipe fees alone.1 2 3

• The starting point was Brazil’s POS war. Incumbents like Cielo and Rede had dominated merchant acquiring with high fees and slow settlement. InfinitePay entered in 2019 with lower pricing and faster cash access for hairdressers, street vendors, and other micro businesses that live week to week on cash flow.1 2
• CloudWalk now follows the same structural playbook as StoneCo and PagSeguro, acquire merchants through payments, then cross sell banking and credit. The difference is operating focus. CloudWalk serves 6M+ merchants with about 500 employees, suggesting a more software heavy and automated model than traditional acquirers.1 3
• Pix changes the economics but not the opportunity. In Brazil, Pix reached 47% of non cash payment volume in 2024 and costs merchants about 0.22% versus 2.34% for credit cards. CloudWalk responded by bundling free Pix and building credit products on top, treating cheap payment rails as customer acquisition and credit as monetization.1 2

The next phase is a deeper shift from processor to merchant operating system. As more volume moves through Pix and software only flows, growth should come less from charging for payment acceptance itself and more from owning the merchant’s daily money movement, short term credit, and payout workflows.1 2