Embedded payments are gaining prominence across various industries to streamline operations and enhance user experiences. As software platforms evolve to serve specialized sectors, flexible integrations are unlocking new growth avenues for industries where operational fit and speed to market are essential. Low-code and no-code tools are making it easier for a wide range of industry platforms to deploy advanced payment features quickly—often without the need for specialized development resources.
Education—Unlocking Efficiency for Institutions, Platforms and Students
Paying for education isn’t just expensive—it’s complicated. Multiple funding sources and siloed payment processes add complexity and lead to frustration for both students and schools.
Legacy manual payment systems cause friction.
From tuition to extracurricular activities, educational payments remain fragmented and filled with friction. In fact, TouchNet reports that 55% of college students in the United States juggle three or more funding sources for tuition. Legacy systems often separate enrollment, billing and payment into siloed tools—creating administrative burdens and poor user experiences. Another TouchNet finding shows that 34% of U.S. college students say the effort required to manage financial activities at their institutions is “very high.”
55%
Share of U.S. college students juggling three or more funding sources for tuition
The mobile-first generation of students strongly prefers digital, self-service tools for managing payments, such as web portals and mobile apps. Whereas financial stress is a leading cause of students leaving their institutions, positive financial interactions encourage continued enrollment. Roughly half of all students surveyed by TouchNet reported that financial interactions with their institutions had a positive impact on their academic success.
Low-code embedded payments offer speed and simplicity.
Platforms like Meadow illustrate how embedded payment tools can unify these fragmented experiences. Through Meadow Pay, the company offers payment plans, automated communications and self-service tools that ease administration and boost on-time collections. Powered by Finix’s low-code/no-code integrations, Meadow provides a mobile-first interface with secure, scalable transactions. Use of the platform resulted in a 47% increase in on-time payments and adoption across dozens of campuses.
Case studies like these demonstrate how embedding payments directly into higher education workflows can enhance financial predictability and provide smoother experiences for students, parents and administrators alike. Low-code options offer the advantage of rapid adoption and implementation.
Navigating fragmented, manual payment processes causes frustration for both healthcare providers and patients while adding cost and eroding the quality of care. Embedded payments through low-code integrations can bring instant simplicity and improve outcomes.
Legacy payment systems undercut provider cash flow.
In healthcare, payment friction affects both patients and providers. Payment flows are complex and highly regulated, and healthcare administrators often must wrangle paper forms, pay-by-phone systems and manual processing just to complete a single patient payment. Hospitals and healthcare providers also face increased reimbursement hurdles, as government funding cuts, insurance preapproval delays and other policy changes create uncertainty. According to PYMNTS Intelligence, only 44% of healthcare treasurers report high cash flow predictability for their firms.
Healthcare consumers, especially younger patients, also face frustration from antiquated payment systems. Nearly four in 10 Gen Z consumers (38%) report that the payment process for their most recent service was moderately complex. That compares with fewer than one in 10 baby boomers (7%), who are perhaps more familiar with traditional paperwork.
Low-code embedded payments can help mitigate losses and foster trust.
Embedded payments in healthcare can provide an invisible infrastructure that makes financial processes feel native to care delivery. Low-code, configurable application programming interfaces (APIs) can integrate payment tools with existing healthcare systems, automating payouts and enabling instant patient onboarding for practices. This approach means faster cash flow, reduced back-office overhead, and trusted experiences for both providers and patients. According to the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH), the medical and dental industries could collectively save $828 million by adopting electronic claim payments.
For healthcare consumers, a more transparent and frictionless engagement with financial processes encourages more proactive involvement in their care, reduces over-utilization and increases adherence to care programs. Overall, 44% of consumers reported at least one issue when paying for their latest healthcare service, including nearly seven in 10 Gen Z patients (68%). A lack of transparency and other communication issues, such as unexpected payments and unclear billing statements, were the most frequently cited problems.
Payment processing solutions, such as those of Finix, enable healthcare providers to address consumer complaints regarding a lack of transparency, communication issues, unexpected payments and unclear billing statements. These solutions provide the infrastructure and tools for providers to improve their payment processes and offer a better, more transparent financial experience for patients.
Professional and Field Services—Modernizing Money Movement for On-the-Go Professionals
Many professional contractors, from plumbers to roofers, still rely on paper invoices and checks, which slow down collections and hinder cash flow. However, field-service management platforms with embedded payment infrastructure are transforming the business.
Mobile-first services need mobile-first payment capability.
According to a recent Mastercard white paper, professional services are among the least efficient industries when it comes to easily reconciling payments. Notably, 91% of professional services businesses identify the lack of payment progress visibility as the top challenge in business-to-business (B2B) transactions. Paper checks and card readers slow down mobile-first field services, such as roofing, plumbing, electrical and landscaping services, thereby delaying revenue collection. Nearly four in 10 (37%) consumers prefer to use apps to pay for such services. In an era when consumers expect to pay by card or app, field service operations often still rely on manually inputting credit card information over the phone, either back at the office or when calling to collect payment.
Waiting for customer payments can hinder a service business, especially when significant resources are invested in a project. Mobile point-of-sale (POS) systems, such as mobile phone card readers, can substantially accelerate the collection timeline. Instead of returning to the office to review completed jobs, compile multiple invoices and then send them to customers who may not pay immediately, contractors can request payment as soon as the job is completed.
Low- and no-code embedded payments boost customer service for field professionals.
Field service management platforms are changing the on-site service industry. An embedded payments infrastructure enables platforms to offer service providers branded invoicing and card-on-file capabilities—all without relying on third-party payment links. With low-code/no-code tools and automated onboarding, field service professionals can become payment-ready in minutes.
Meeting with the customer before or after the job is complete gives a contractor more one-on-one time with the client. The customer also benefits from knowing that their data can be easily located. If they call the service with a question about a project, office staff can quickly find the records and provide an answer. Combined with real-time reporting, automated reconciliation and customizable fee structures, this level of integration enables platforms to stand out in a crowded market—while allowing service professionals to get paid faster and more reliably.
Building Seamless Payment Experiences Through Low-Code Innovation
Service platforms in high-trust verticals such as education, healthcare and professional services need more than just basic payment capabilities; they require infrastructure that aligns with their operations and customer expectations. By embracing embedded solutions—configurable through low-code and no-code approaches—these sectors can deliver seamless experiences, accelerate cash flow and strengthen trust where it matters most: at the point of interaction.
PYMNTS Intelligence offers the following actionable roadmap for platforms seeking to modernize payments with embedded, low-code solutions:
Prioritize mobile. Consumers today expect to pay for things using their phones, and service providers need to be there.
Keep it simple. Reducing payment friction reduces workloads for both customers and providers, adding value to each.
Stay out of the back office. Moving back-office functions like invoicing and collections upfront leads to better customer experiences and better financial management.
Use payments as a competitive advantage. Delivering transparent, secure and intuitive payment experiences fosters trust and loyalty, enabling platforms to differentiate themselves in crowded markets.
By integrating low-code embedded payment technology into the core of their platforms, businesses can transform transactions from mere afterthoughts into strategic assets, creating value for users and unlocking new growth opportunities.
Low-code embedded payments are transforming how vertical software platforms serve their users. By removing technical barriers, we’re enabling innovators in education, healthcare and field services to bring seamless, secure payment experiences to market faster.”
The company will use the new funding to build capacity, expand to new regions, develop more merchant tools, enable cross-border and creator payouts, and maintain reliability and compliance, it said in a Tuesday (Dec. 16) blog post.
Speed’s offerings include a global payment layer called Speed Merchantthat is designed for merchants, platforms and payment systems and enables them to accept both Bitcoin and stablecoins, according to the post.
The company also offers a Lightning wallet called Speed Walletthat serves individuals and businesses and enables Bitcoin and stablecoin transfers, supports global payouts, offers local on- and off-ramps, and powers USDT transactions, the post said.
“We’ve always believed that Bitcoin and stablecoins can power everyday payments,” Speed CEO Niraj Patel said in the post. “That requires real infrastructure—fast, compliant and scalable. This investment validates that belief and accelerates our mission.”
Speed co-founder Jayneel Patel said in the post that the company aims to “solve real problems with technology.”
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“Speed started as a merchant solution and has grown into a global payment network,” Jayneel Patel said, adding the company is “ready to take the next leap.”
Stablecoin issuer Tether and venture fund ego death capital co-led the funding round, per the post.
Tether said in a Tuesday press release that its investment supports its strategy to support Bitcoin-aligned financial infrastructure and expand the utility of its USDT stablecoin in real-world payment environments.
“We support teams building practical infrastructure that reduces friction in payments and expands access to reliable settlement rails,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in the release.
Tether’s USDT stablecoin is the most traded cryptocurrency by volume around the world.
Adam Gebner, associate at ego death capital, said in a Tuesday blog post that Speed processed over $1.5 billion in payment volume over the past 12 months and serves more than 1.2 million users.
“By bridging Lightning and stablecoins in a single, compliant platform, Speed is positioning itself as foundational infrastructure for the Bitcoin and stablecoin economy, serving merchants, platforms and users across both developed and emerging markets,” Gebner said in the post.
Data analytics/artificial intelligence (AI) firm Databricks is reportedly raising $4 billion in a new funding round.
This Series L round would value the company at $134 billion, up 34% from its last session of funding during the summer, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday (Dec. 16).
Ali Ghodsi, Databricks’ co-founder and CEO, told the WSJ the company plans to use the new funding to invest in its core data-analytics products and AI software, while also letting its workers engage in secondary share sales.
The company, among the most valuable private firms in Silicon Valley, also plans to hire around 600 fresh college graduates in 2026, the CEO added, in addition to adding thousands of new jobs worldwide in Asia, Latin America and Europe. It also plans to hire AI researchers, who are typically paid top salaries, the WSJ added.
The report noted that Databricks has benefited from the AI boom, which relies partially on private corporate data to customize AI models. Databricks told the WSJ that its data-warehousing product, which can serve as an underlying data platform for AI services, surpassed a $1 billion revenue run rate at the end of October.
This year has seen Databricks ink deals with OpenAI and Anthropic to help sell AI services to business customers. Each of these partnerships are designed to push clients to develop AI agents, or independent bots that can carry out tasks on behalf of humans.
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The company’s new funding round comes three months after Databricks’ Series K round, which valued it more than $100 billion, up from $62 billion at the start of the year.
In other AI news, PYMNTS wrote earlier this week about The General Intelligence Company of New York, a start up developing agent-based systems designed to take over large portions of company operations.
“The company’s name deliberately evokes Gilded Age ambition, and founder Andrew Pignanelli told PYMNTS that the reference was intentional,” that report said. “He said he views AI as foundational infrastructure for the next era of company-building, much as railroads and industrial capital reshaped the United States economy more than a century ago.”
The company started by working backward from “the one-person billion-dollar business,” as Pignanelli termed it.
“We started at the end, the actual one-person billion-dollar company, and worked our way back and we were like, ‘What can we do today?’” he said.
A collection of app developers and consumer groups want Europe to enforce laws against Apple.
The Coalition of App Fairness (CAF) on Monday (Dec. 15) issued an open letter to the European Commission (EC) accusing the tech giant of “persistent” non-compliance with Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The letter follows findings from the EC that Apple had violated the DMA by keeping developers from directing users to alternative payment methods, fining the tech giant $588 million.
Apple in turn revised its terms for its app store to impose fees that ranged from from 13% for smaller businesses to up to 20% for App Store purchases. However, the CAF says Apple has not addressed what it calls a core issue: the company’s fees are preventing fair competition.
“The law says that gatekeepers like Apple must allow developers to offer and conduct transactions outside of the App Store free of charge,” the letter said. “However, Apple is now charging developers commission, fees of up to 20% for such transactions. This is a blatant disregard for the law with the potential to vanquish years of meaningful work by the Commission.”
The CAF also notes that Apple plans to introduce new terms and conditions for the App Store next month, and says it suspects the new terms will include fees that violate the DMA.
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“Apple cannot be permitted to exploit its gatekeeper position by holding the entire industry hostage,” the letter added.
PYMNTS has contacted Apple for comment but has not yet gotten a reply. The company had in September called on the commission to rethink the DMA, which was created to prevent market abuse by tech giants doing business in Europe.
“Over that time, it’s become clear that the DMA is leading to a worse experience for Apple users in the EU,” Apple wrote in a blog post. “It’s exposing them to new risks, and disrupting the simple, seamless way their Apple products work together. And as new technologies come out, our European users’ Apple products will only fall further behind.”
In its blog post, Apple argued the DMA requirements for allowing other app marketplaces and alternative payment systems don’t take into account the privacy and security standards of the App Store, putting customers at risk for being overcharged or scammed.
“The DMA also lets other companies request access to user data and core technologies of Apple products,” the company wrote. “Apple is required to meet almost every request, even if they create serious risks for our users.”
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