Online payments

GoFundMe's new team fundraising feature lays the foundation for bigger groups to use the platform for collecting payments — nudging it closer to the tools merchants use to manage business expenses.

Earlier this week, the e-commerce payments giant announced a $400 million deal to acquire Hyperwallet and its payment distribution technology. The deal for Palo Alto-based Simility takes aim at a different need: applying machine learning to its data collection to prevent various types of fraud.

Malware operators are joining forces, installing each others’ tools on compromised computers to target a wider range of victims, and possibly also sharing the work of harvesting funds using stolen account details.

PayPal is spending billions on M&A to throttle the heightened competition it faces from the likes of Square and Stripe.

Paysafe Group has introduced a cash-based online payment mechanism for people who don’t have bank accounts or don’t use cards online due to security concerns. The U.K.-based payments services provider is also expanding its presence in the U.S.

PayPal can combine its payment service, Braintree and Hyperwallet for a variety of use cases for online marketplaces and gig economy workers.

Nets will bring its payments technology reach into Poland through its $85 million acquisition of Dotpay/eCard.

Payment processors have increasingly become full-service providers from equipment to security measures and, most recently, some mobile and omnichannel options.

As competition from the bank-powered Zelle mounts, the popular social P2P app Venmo is phasing out support for online payments in favor of its mobile app.

The advancement of digital wallet technology in the past five years may be having a numbing effect on e-commerce merchants, who favor familiar brands over big-name wallet apps.