Adding Value to SaaS with Well-Built Money Movement
For SaaS platforms building solutions for industries with complex fund flows — such as healthcare and education — integrating payments into your platform is a complex and challenging task. What starts out as “payments” quickly becomes a snowball of needed features and functions. In addition to accepting payments, you need to consider how your platform will update records, update billing, move money to all involved entities, and so on. In short, what is the full gamut of pay-in and pay-out functionality your users will need?
Embedded Finance: Payments is One Component of Many
For tech, AI is in the spotlight right now. In the payments world, embedded finance is also gaining attention — and for good reasons. Embedded finance takes a complete approach to the money movement with a platform. In addition to payments, embedded finance can include banking, cards, lending, insurance, investing, and more.
Offering integrated financial services creates a seamless, unified experience for SaaS companies, driving retention, opening new revenue channels, and building loyalty (referred to as stickiness).
Integrating payments, banking, lending, and other financial services directly into your platform creates a seamless experience that is more than just facilitating transactions. This intensional approach to integration improves convenience and reduces friction for your users. When your platform can meet a broader range of financial needs, customers are more likely to stay engaged and continue relying on your services. As a result, you drive higher retention, unlock underutilized revenue opportunities, and increase the lifetime value (LTV) of each customer.
Payment Facilitation: The Other Fintech Darling
Let’s take a moment to discuss payment facilitation (also known as PayFac or PFac). Becoming a payment facilitator can help steer your platform towards more and more revenue by taking on more ownership of the payment process.
Becoming a Payment Facilitator offers significant advantages for SaaS platforms that want to integrate payment acceptance into their offerings. By acting as a PayFac, platforms can streamline merchant onboarding with faster, automated processes, creating a seamless user experience. This approach enables SaaS providers to generate new revenue streams by earning a share of transaction fees and offering value-added services like fraud protection or advanced analytics. Additionally, it allows platforms to maintain greater control over the payment process, including branding and customization, while creating deeper customer engagement and loyalty by embedding payment capabilities directly into their ecosystem.
This model also positions SaaS platforms to differentiate themselves in the competitive market by delivering an all-in-one solution. Sub-merchants benefit from faster access to funds, enhancing their cash flow, while the platform gains insights from transaction data to refine offerings and drive growth.
However, becoming a PayFac comes with challenges, including the management of regulatory compliance, financial risks like chargebacks and fraud, and operational complexities. While these hurdles require careful planning and investment, the long-term benefits of enhanced revenue, improved user experience, and competitive differentiation make the PayFac model an appealing option for many SaaS providers.
Pay Theory PayFacs — A Staged Approach
The journey to becoming a PayFac doesn’t have to be complex. With Pay Theory’s team, you can simplify the process and open up new revenue opportunities for your platform. At Pay Theory, we’ve designed a scalable, three-stage approach to help SaaS platforms integrate payments and unlock new opportunities. We call it Crawl, Walk, Run — a progressive model that gradually builds your capacity to handle payments while ensuring you don’t lose control over your business operations.
To learn more about payment facilitation, visit our payment facilitation page on our website.
Empower Your SaaS Platform with Pay Theory
For SaaS platforms in high-demand industries like healthcare, integrating payments isn’t just an add-on — it’s an essential part of staying competitive and delivering value to your customers. With Pay Theory’s Crawl, Walk, Run approach, you can unlock the full potential of payments integration without the complexity. Start your journey today and position your platform for success.
Visit paytheory.com to learn more about our unique approach to payments or contact our sales team to request a demo or start a conversation.
