Adyen is a Dutch

payment company A payment is the tender of something of value, such as money or its equivalent, by one party (such as a person or company) to another in exchange for goods or services provided by them, or to fulfill a legal obligation or philanthropy desire. Th ...

with the status of an

acquiring bank An acquiring bank (also known simply as an acquirer) is a bank or financial institution that processes credit or debit card payments on behalf of a merchant. The acquirer allows merchants to accept credit card payments from card issuers such as ...

that allows businesses to accept

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

, mobile, and point-of-sale payments. It is listed on the stock exchange

Euronext Amsterdam Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (), it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The re ...

. Adyen offers merchants online services to accept electronic payments using payment methods including credit cards,

debit cards A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either ...

wire transfer Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash ...

s, and real-time bank transfers based on

online banking Online banking, also known as internet banking, virtual banking, web banking or home banking, is a system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to conduct a range of financial transactions through the financial institut ...

. It connects merchants to different payment methods, including international credit cards, local cash-based methods, and

mobile payment Mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device. Instead of paying with cas ...

methods. The technology platform acts as a

payment gateway A payment gateway is a merchant service provided by an e-commerce application service provider that authorizes credit card or direct payment processing for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar. The ...

and a

payment service provider A payment service provider (PSP) is a third-party company that allows businesses to accept electronic payments, such as credit card and debit card payments. PSPs act as intermediaries between those who make payments, i.e. consumers, and those who ...

History

Adyen was founded in 2006 by Pieter van der Does, the current CEO, and Arnout Schuijff. Headquartered in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, the company employs around 2,000 people in offices in twenty-three countries. The name Adyen means 'start again' in

Sranan Tongo Sranan Tongo (Sranantongo, "Surinamese tongue", Sranan, Surinamese Creole) is an English-based creole language from Suriname, in South America, where it is the first or second language for 519,600 Surinamese people (approximately 80% of the popu ...

. This is a reference to this being the second project of the founders after Bibit. In 2012, Adyen started to expand globally, opening its offices in San Francisco, Paris, and London. In the same year, it obtained its pan-European acquiring a license. In 2015, Adyen achieved a valuation of $2.3 billion, making it the sixth-largest European

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...

. In 2016, it obtained an acquiring license in Brazil through a BIN sponsorship. In 2017, the company was granted a European

banking license In most legal jurisdictions, a financial institution is required to obtain a banking licence before it is legally permitted to carry on a banking business. Besides other requirements, such a business is not permitted to contain in its name words ...

, which gave it the status of an

. It also obtained acquiring licenses in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2018, the company announced that it would be listing its shares publicly in

. The IPO took place on 13 June 2018. In 2019, Adyen opened new offices in Tokyo and Mumbai, and expanded its payment offering in Africa. In the same year, it launched Adyen Issuing, a virtual and physical card-issuing business to complement payments services to merchants. In 2020, the company benefited from an accelerated digitalization of global ecommerce in the online retail segment, which compensated for the declining travel volumes in enterprises due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It launched mobile Android POS devices worldwide in the second half of the year. In addition, it opened a new office in Dubai, expanding its offering in the Middle East.

Growth

The company has been profitable since 2011. Its earnings grew from $46 million in 2015 to $87 million in 2016. Its gross revenue grew 99 percent in 2016 to $727 million. In December 2014, the company announced a funding round of $250 million led by growth equity firm General Atlantic, joined by existing investors

Temasek Holdings Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited ( ) is a Singaporean State ownership, state-owned multinational investment firm. Incorporated on 25 June 1974, Temasek has a net portfolio of US$288 billion (S$389 billion) as of 2024. Headquartered at Orchard ...

Index Ventures Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with headquarters in both San Francisco and London. It invests primarily in tech companies. History Index Ventures has its origins in a Switzerland, Swiss bond (finance), bond-trading firm cal ...

, and Felicis Ventures. In 2016, the company saw transaction volume increase to $90 billion, up from $50 billion in 2015. In 2017, Adyen surpassed €100 billion in processed volume. On January 31, 2018,

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

announced that it had signed an agreement with Adyen to become its primary payments processing partner. eBay began intermediation on a small scale in North America starting in the second half of 2018, expanding in 2019 under the terms of the operating agreement with

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

. In 2021, eBay transitioned a majority of its marketplace customers to Adyen. In 2021, net revenue hit €1 billion. In 2022, the company exceeded €1.3 billion in revenue.

References

{{AEX companies Financial services companies established in 2006 Payment service providers Companies based in Amsterdam Companies in the Euro Stoxx 50 Companies in the AEX index Companies listed on Euronext Amsterdam