3.4.7.1Vertical

Independent Sales Organizations (ISO)

Payment companies reselling merchant processing services.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Payment Processing & Acquiring (3.4.7), the segment that Independent Sales Organizations (ISO) sits within — not Independent Sales Organizations (ISO) on its own.

Market size
~$137B
Growth
~11.7%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~5,000
FragmentationConsolidatingEstimate

U.S. Census Bureau 2022 CBP/Economic Census, NAICS 522320 (Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve & Clearinghouse Activities).

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Per-transaction and volume-based processing fees

Key economics

Recurring revenue
High

transaction-volume-based

EBITDA margin
Strong

scale-driven processing economics

Capex intensity
Low

Characteristics

  • Largest, most established fintech category.
  • Integrated payments (payments in vertical software) is the key trend.
  • Revenue scales with digital and card-based spending.

M&A deal context

Deal activityHigh

Who’s acquiring

  • Payments processors & strategics
  • Vertical-software platforms
  • PE-backed payments consolidators

What’s driving deals

  • Integrated-payments bundling with software.
  • Consolidation of processors and ISOs.
  • Growth in digital and card-based spending.

Find Independent Sales Organizations (ISO) acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Independent Sales Organizations (ISO) (3.4.7.1) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

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