For SaaS Platforms

Your SaaS embedded finance program is about
to become a financial services company.

The moment your platform moves money, issues cards, or extends credit, you've taken on regulatory exposure, bank relationship requirements, and compliance architecture your product team wasn't built to manage. ExpandUp defines that architecture before you build it wrong.

Talk with us before your next vendor decision → Explore Architecture

First conversation: 30-minute architecture diagnostic. No cost. No commitment.

Does This Describe You

The situation most SaaS platforms are in when they call us

""We want to add payments to our platform but don't know where to start.""

The program model, compliance exposure, and economics need to be defined before the first vendor call. Most SaaS platforms skip this and spend 12 months unwinding vendor defaults.

""We're processing payments on behalf of customers and want to capture more of the economics.""

Interchange, float, and fee revenue are flowing to the infrastructure layer. The architecture wasn't designed to capture them. The gap is measurable and recoverable.

""We want to offer customers a debit or credit card.""

Card issuance is a regulated program — sponsor bank requirements, interchange architecture, and compliance controls need to be defined before any vendor selection.

""We launched an embedded payments feature and unit economics aren't working.""

Revenue sharing was compressed by vendor defaults. Interchange lower than projected. The program model was inherited rather than designed. Restructuring is possible.

""Our BaaS economics made sense at launch but are compressing as volume grows.""

BaaS take rates are flat percentages. Your cost scales with volume at the same rate as revenue. The crossover point is predictable — and should have been modeled before signing.

""We have payment volume but we're not earning revenue on it.""

Interchange capture, float economics, and fee structure are architecture decisions. Programs that didn't design for revenue capture don't accidentally discover it later.

"We launched payments but the operational layer was never built"

The infrastructure is connected. But vendor data management, payment orchestration, reconciliation logic, and customer onboarding infrastructure are incomplete. The program isn't usable in real business workflows yet. This gap is architectural — and it's closeable.

Where We Fit

We sit between the platform and the infrastructure.

Your Layer
SaaS Platform / Program Owner
Product design, customer experience, distribution, software core product. Where you operate today.
ExpandUp Layer
Architecture & Program Design
Program model definition · Economics & margin design · Bank partner structure · Compliance framework · Infrastructure selection · Monetization architecture
Infrastructure Layer
BaaS / Processor / Sponsor Bank
Payment processing, card issuance, ledger, compliance infrastructure. Selected to fit the architecture — not to define it.

We are not a vendor. We are not a BaaS platform. We do not earn placement fees. Our only output is the architecture — designed for your program, not theirs. We sit on your side of the table. Our mission →

The Architecture Method

Six capabilities. One architecture.

01
Payments Model Strategy
Define the program model first. BaaS, direct MTL, hybrid — before any vendor conversation. The model determines the margin ceiling on every other decision.
02
Product & Monetization
Design the economics before the build. Interchange, fees, margin architecture. See how we design payments revenue →
03
Bank Partner Selection
Structure the sponsor bank relationship. Right bank archetype, commercial terms prepared, before the first conversation begins.
04
Compliance & Readiness
Surface compliance requirements early. Before they become launch blockers. Designed for your program model, not copied from a generic checklist.
05
Infrastructure & Stack
Select infrastructure to fit the architecture. Not the other way around. Rail selection, processor evaluation, BaaS vs. direct analysis.
06
Implementation & Go-Live
Coordinate launch readiness across all parties. Architecture defense, last-mile gap identification, cross-party sequencing.

When SaaS platforms work with ExpandUp

Payments embedded in vertical SaaS
Program model, economics, and compliance defined before the build. BaaS selection follows architecture.
Debit card program for platform customers
Sponsor bank selection, interchange architecture, and compliance framework defined before card program launch.
Credit or charge card program
Underwriting requirements, bank credit appetite, Reg Z compliance, and interchange economics designed together.
Payment facilitator economics restructuring
Interchange capture, sub-merchant economics, and bank relationship restructured post-launch.
Post-launch BaaS economics review
Program operating on BaaS with compressed margins. Revenue architecture redesigned within or beyond existing infrastructure.
B2B payments feature for platform customers
AP/AR payment capability added to vertical SaaS — compliance exposure, bank structure, and monetization designed first.
Payments Monetization

SaaS platforms with payment volume have more revenue architecture available than they realize.

Interchange capture, float economics, fee structure design, and program model selection all determine whether embedded payments is a margin-dilutive feature or a revenue-generating business line. Most SaaS programs inherit vendor defaults on all four.

See how we design payments revenue →

Engagement model

Have you modeled the economics at 3x your current volume? Most SaaS payment programs inherit vendor defaults that work at launch and break at scale. Let's look at yours.
Start the conversation →

Define the architecture before the vendor does it for you.

The program model, economics, and compliance framework are going to get defined either way. The question is whether you define them — or whether your BaaS provider does.

Talk with us See how we design payments revenue
How do SaaS platforms actually make money on payments? Read the complete breakdown of interchange, float, fee design, and why most platforms capture a fraction of available revenue.
Read the guide →