PayPal is focused on international expansion and agentic AI-driven commerce solutions in 2025.

The payments giant, which captured 45% of all United States checkout traffic in the first quarter, is transitioning from a payments company to a global end-to-end ecommerce platform, Chief Executive Alex Chriss said during today’s earnings call.

The expansion plans come on the heels of PayPal’s fifth consecutive profitable quarter, in which the firm reported $1.3 billion in net income, a jump of 9.9% quarter over quarter and up 15% year over year.

PayPal attributed the increases to its branded checkout and omnichannel payments solutions, which allow consumers to choose between PayPal and its Venmo subsidiary on one platform.

THE BIG PICTURE: PayPal’s expansion plans will kick off in Germany and the U.K., Chriss said during the call.

“We are on track to launch [near-field communication] capabilities in Germany later this quarter and bring PayPal everywhere to the U.K. in Q3,” he said.

PayPal is prioritizing growth in key markets, with targeted awareness campaigns planned in the U.K. and Germany this year, along with ongoing investment in other strategic regions including Australia, France, Italy and Spain, he said.

Part of PayPal’s international expansion endeavors include its buy now, pay later (BNPL) service, Chriss said. BNPL users spend 33% more on average and conduct 17% more transactions, he added — a slight increase from the average of 30% previously shared with BAN.

BY THE NUMBERS: PayPal in Q1 reported:

• $7.8 billion in net revenues, down 6.9% QoQ and up 1% YoY;

  

• $731 million in technology and development spend, down 5.4% QoQ and down 1.5% YoY;
• $417.2 billion in total payment volume, down 4.7% QoQ and up 3% YoY;
• 6 billion in payment transactions, down 8.7% QoQ and down 7% YoY;
• 436 million active accounts, up 0.3% QoQ and up 2% YoY;
• 224 million monthly active accounts, down 2.2% QoQ and up 2% YoY; and
• 2 million first-time PayPal and Venmo debit card users.

“We hit an important inflection point for Venmo monetization, with 20% revenue growth,” CEO Chriss said during the call.

PayPal does not disclose revenue by product, but a company spokesperson told BAN that Venmo’s growth rate was unusually high in Q1.

Major banks that have integrated Venmo include:

• $4.3 trillion JPMorgan Chase;
• $2.5 trillion Bank of America;
• $1.9 trillion Wells Fargo; and
• $1.6 trillion Citi.

OF NOTE: PayPal on April 24 announced an expanded partnership with crypto firm Coinbase to increase distribution and adoption of PayPal stablecoin, with plans to explore new decentralized finance use case.

PayPal this month also launched a model context protocol server that enables AI agents to integrate with PayPal’s APIs.

“Now, any business can create agentic experiences that allow customers to pay, track shipments, manage invoices and more, all powered by PayPal and all within an AI client,” Chriss said during the call, referring to the ability for developers to connect AI frameworks directly with PayPal services.

PayPal is continuously looking into agentic AI-powered commerce capabilities, he said.

“As we speak, developers are gathering at our San Jose headquarters for our annual Developer Days. Every major player in AI is represented, providing demos and engaging with our developer community,” Chriss said. “The future of commerce will have a strong agentic presence, and we’re excited about leading the charge.”

Collaborators at PayPal’s Developer Days include:

• Google Cloud;
• Amazon Web Services; and
• Azure AI.

MARKET REACTION: Shares of PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) were up/down 2.3% from market open to $66.44 as of market close today. PayPal has a market capitalization of $65 billion.