NMI Acquires Dwolla to Integrate Account-to-Account Payments

NEW YORK – NMI, a global provider of embedded payments infrastructure, announced on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, that it has acquired Dwolla, a prominent account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure company. The acquisition is set to integrate Dwolla’s API-first money movement technology into NMI’s platform, significantly strengthening its capabilities in direct bank payments for its network of partners. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition combines NMI’s established expertise in payment acceptance, merchant onboarding, and channel distribution with Dwolla’s specialized infrastructure for ACH payments, real-time payments (RTP), and open banking. The combined entity will process nearly $700 billion in annual transaction volume, according to company statements. NMI, which is backed by private equity firms Francisco Partners, Insight Partners, and Great Hill Partners, provides a white-label payments platform used by Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms. These partners embed NMI’s technology to offer payment processing services to their own small and mid-sized business clients. The addition of Des Moines, Iowa-based Dwolla and its more than 400 customers aims to create a single, comprehensive infrastructure for accepting, managing, and moving money across various payment rails. “This acquisition is a continuation of our strategy to build the most robust, white-label, embedded payments platform for our channel and enterprise partners,” said Steve Pinado, CEO of NMI, in a statement. “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.” This transaction marks NMI’s sixth acquisition in recent years, signaling a deliberate strategy to expand its platform’s capabilities through targeted purchases. By incorporating Dwolla, NMI adds a critical layer of A2A payment functionality, which allows businesses to facilitate payments directly between bank accounts, often at a lower cost and with faster settlement times than traditional card networks. The deal comes as A2A payments are gaining significant traction worldwide. Businesses and consumers are increasingly seeking faster and more flexible payment methods. According to a forecast from Juniper Research cited by the companies, the global transaction value of A2A payments is projected to reach $195 trillion by 2030, more than doubling from an estimated $91.5 trillion in 2025. This growth is largely fueled by the expansion of real-time payment systems and growing demand for lower-cost payment alternatives. For businesses that use software powered by NMI’s partners, the integration of Dwolla’s technology means potential access to a wider array of payment options. These include direct bank transfers via the ACH network and instant payments through the RTP network. This allows them to offer customers more choice at checkout and can improve a company’s cash flow by reducing the time it takes for funds to become available. Pinado also highlighted the acquisition’s role in positioning NMI for future payment innovations. “It also gives NMI a stronger foundation to participate in the next generation of money movement, including agentic payments, stablecoin-enabled settlement, remittances and other emerging payment models,” he stated. This suggests a long-term vision of a single platform capable of handling both traditional and emerging forms of digital currency and payment flows. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a Stifel Company, served as the exclusive financial advisor to Dwolla, while Berenson & Company advised NMI on the transaction. This consolidation in the embedded payments sector is a clear signal that offering diverse payment rails, especially cost-effective ones like A2A, is becoming a competitive necessity. For small and mid-sized businesses, the high cost of credit card processing fees is a persistent operational challenge. In our experience, many companies see these fees as an unavoidable cost of doing business, but the increasing accessibility of A2A payments offers a powerful alternative. Integrating these payment methods directly into invoicing or e-commerce software lowers the barrier to adoption and can lead to significant savings. This shift requires more than just a technical update; it calls for a strategic reassessment of financial workflows. We guide clients through this kind of business process reengineering, helping them analyze their payment acceptance cycles to identify where A2A payments can reduce costs and accelerate cash flow. Optimizing how a company gets paid can have a direct and substantial impact on its bottom line. For business owners looking to leverage these evolving payment technologies, C&S Finance Group LLC provides expert analysis and implementation support. Find out more about improving your financial operations at csfinancegroup.com. Looking ahead, the industry will be closely observing the integration of Dwolla’s API-first technology into NMI’s broader platform. A seamless fusion could set a new standard for embedded payment solutions and likely encourage further acquisitions in the fintech space. The success of this move will ultimately be measured by how effectively NMI’s partners can deploy these new A2A capabilities to their end-user merchants, providing them with more efficient and flexible ways to manage their money.