Embedded payments remain one of the most underexploited value-creation levers in investors today and the gap between those who treat it as a strategic asset and those who don’t is widening fast.

In this playbook, Worldpay, now Global Payments and L.E.K. Consulting break down how PE and VC investors can harness embedded payments as a shared growth engine at both the platform and portfolio level. From selecting the right monetization model to coordinating a fund-wide payments strategy, this guide gives investors, operating advisors, and value creation teams a practical framework for turning payments into a durable source of enterprise value.

Inside, you’ll find:

• A Value Capture Framework that maps platform readiness across three stages of payments maturity.
• Data on how embedded payments can account for ~51% of incremental enterprise value over a five-year hold.
• A breakdown of monetization models and the unit economics each one unlocks by platform size.
• Strategic levers for coordinating payments across the portfolio to create scale advantages individual platforms can’t achieve alone.
• A three-step roadmap for investors to develop, execute, and scale a payments value-creation strategy.