NMI has officially announced the strategic acquisition of Dwolla, significantly expanding its capabilities across embedded payments, account-to-account (A2A) transfers, and real-time money movement infrastructure.
The acquisition marks a major step in NMIโs broader strategy to create a unified, white-label payments ecosystem capable of supporting the entire financial transaction lifecycle from merchant onboarding and omnichannel payment acceptance to real-time bank transfers, complex payouts, and marketplace fund flows. By integrating Dwollaโs API-first infrastructure directly into its existing platform, NMI is positioning itself as a single-stack provider for modern embedded finance operations. The combined entity is expected to process approximately $700 billion in annual transaction volume, dramatically increasing NMIโs scale within the global payments infrastructure market.
Expanding beyond payment acceptance into full-scale money movement
Historically, NMI has focused heavily on omnichannel payment acceptance, merchant onboarding, gateway services, and partner enablement for ISVs, PayFacs, banks, and payment providers. The acquisition of Dwolla significantly expands this footprint into modern bank-to-bank payment infrastructure and real-time account-based money movement.
Dwolla brings deep specialization in:
- ACH infrastructure
- FedNow connectivity
- real-time account-to-account transfers
- marketplace payouts
- many-to-many funds flow orchestration
- open banking payment connectivity
This integration simplifies what has historically been a fragmented process for software platforms and fintech companies that needed to manage multiple vendors and disconnected financial rails.
Under the combined platform, partners will now be able to support:
- credit and debit card payments
- mobile and in-store transactions
- bank transfers and A2A payments
- payroll disbursements
- B2B supplier payouts
- marketplace seller settlements
- real-time payment flows
All through a single infrastructure layer.
According to Steve Pinado, the acquisition directly aligns with NMIโs long-term objective of becoming the industryโs most comprehensive embedded payments platform.
โThis acquisition is a continuation of our strategy to build the most robust, white-label, embedded payments platform for our channel and enterprise partners. Dwolla gives us modern, API-first A2A infrastructure that strengthens our ability to help businesses accept, manage and move money across more use cases and more rails.โ
– CEO of NMI, Steve Pinado
Positioning for the rapid global growth of account-to-account payments
The timing of the acquisition reflects the accelerating global shift toward account-to-account payment systems as businesses increasingly prioritize lower-cost and faster alternatives to traditional card-based payment rails. According to Juniper Research data referenced in the announcement, global A2A transaction values are projected to rise from $91.5 trillion in 2025 to approximately $195 trillion by 2030.
This growth is being driven by increasing adoption of:
- real-time payment networks
- open banking infrastructure
- embedded finance platforms
- instant merchant payouts
- cross-border digital commerce
For NMI, acquiring Dwolla provides immediate infrastructure depth in these rapidly expanding payment categories while strengthening its ability to support fintech innovators and enterprise software platforms. Dave Glaser, who will join NMIโs leadership team following the transaction, emphasized that the acquisition gives Dwolla customers access to a broader suite of payment acceptance tools while preserving the core bank-transfer infrastructure already used by hundreds of businesses.
โBy joining NMI, we can bring those capabilities to a broader ecosystem of partners, while giving Dwolla customers access to NMIโs omnichannel payment acceptance capabilities. Together, we can help software companies, payments professionals and fintech innovators deliver more ways to pay and move money with less complexity.โ
– CEO at Dwolla, Dave Glaser
Building infrastructure for the future of embedded finance
Beyond current payment use cases, the combined platform is also being architected to support emerging financial technologies including:
- agentic AI-driven payments
- stablecoin settlement systems
- real-time global remittances
- programmable financial workflows
The acquisition represents NMIโs sixth strategic transaction in recent years as the company continues assembling an end-to-end embedded finance ecosystem through targeted infrastructure acquisitions. Backed by Francisco Partners, Insight Partners, and Great Hill Partners, NMI has steadily expanded its position across embedded payments and financial infrastructure. Rather than forcing software companies and fintech platforms to build internal payment systems from scratch, NMIโs broader strategy centers on delivering a fully integrated โsign-up to payoutโ financial stack capable of supporting modern commerce through a unified API-driven infrastructure layer.
About NMI
NMI is a global embedded payments infrastructure provider powering digital commerce across online, in-store, in-app, and unattended payment environments. The companyโs modular platform supports thousands of ISVs, banks, PayFacs, and software platforms through white-label payment infrastructure and gateway technology. NMI processes more than $600 billion in annual transaction volume and is backed by Francisco Partners, Insight Partners, and Great Hill Partners.
About Dwolla
Dwolla is an API-first A2A payment infrastructure provider specializing in ACH, real-time bank transfers, and money movement orchestration. The company serves SMBs and Fortune 500 enterprises with scalable bank-payment infrastructure designed to simplify complex payment workflows. Dwolla is recognized for its developer-focused infrastructure and expertise in bank-based payment standardization and exception handling.
