The app for independent voices
In this episode of the Wrap Up podcast, I sit down with Andrew Helms, CEO of SumUp in the US, to unpack how a European payments company adapted its strategy to compete in the highly saturated and unforgiving US market.
We talk through SumUp’s early US missteps with card readers, why that approach couldn’t compete with Square, and how the company went back to the drawing board to rebuild its product stack. Andrew explains SumUp’s shift toward POS, loyalty, invoicing, and light banking—and why loyalty has become a core growth lever for small merchants, not a “nice to have.”
We also dive into competition with legacy players like Clover, the role of ISOs, and why many large acquirers lose merchant trust as they scale. On the technology side, we discuss SumUp’s cautious approach to crypto and stablecoins, where AI actually adds value for merchants, and why human customer support still matters when payments or loyalty systems go down.
The conversation closes with SumUp’s product priorities for 2026, how economic uncertainty is shaping merchant behavior, and why transparent pricing, cost control, and customer retention are becoming non-negotiables for small businesses.
