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

In this playbook, Worldpay and L.E.K. Consulting break down how PE and VC sponsors 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 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 PE sponsors to develop, execute, and scale a payments value-creation strategy.