Announcing the 2025 winners of The Power of Payments Awards

Consumer and commercial payments are experiencing a surge of innovation. New products, services, and partnerships are emerging, shaping the next wave of leaders in the industry, while established players continue to broaden their offerings and expand their reach.

Tearsheet’s Power of Payments Awards stand as the premier recognition in the field, celebrating the top products and brands that are driving and defining this fast-evolving payments landscape.

Meet the 2025 winners:

Payment Technology Provider of the Year: J.P. Morgan Payments

J.P. Morgan Payments takes home Tearsheet’s Payment Technology Provider of the Year award for redefining how money moves in a digital-first world. Powering over half of all US e-commerce and handling up to 600 million transactions a day, the firm blends the adaptability of a fintech with the scale and reliability of a global bank. Over the past year, J.P. Morgan Payments has led the industry’s biometric transformation — rolling out face- and palm-enabled payment devices and deploying them at major venues like the Chase Center and Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix. These innovations deliver faster, more secure, and smoother transactions while linking payments, loyalty, and identity into one flow. By combining technology with trusted infrastructure, J.P. Morgan Payments continues to set the pace for the future of connected commerce.

Most Innovative Payments: Balance

Balance earns Tearsheet’s Most Innovative Payments award for transforming how B2B commerce moves money. Its financial infrastructure platform powers embedded payments, digital trade credit, and B2B BNPL, bringing consumer-style ease to complex business transactions. With AI-driven credit risk models and budget-friendly approval rates, Balance enables instant credit access at checkout while guaranteeing sellers get paid with zero risk. Trusted by leading enterprises like Alibaba.com and Instacart Business, the platform has helped merchants boost buyer spend by over 50% and grow customer acquisition by more than a third. By turning traditionally manual B2B transactions into fast, automated, and data-driven experiences, Balance is setting a new standard for how businesses pay and get paid.

Best Cross-Border Payments Offering: Remitly

Remitly wins Tearsheet’s Best Cross-Border Payments Offering award for making cross-border money transfers faster, fairer, and more trusted for millions of people worldwide. Its digital-first platform removes the high fees and long waits of traditional remittance services, giving customers a transparent, reliable way to support loved ones across continents. Over the past year, Remitly expanded its AI and machine learning capabilities to enhance security and speed, cutting fraud interventions by 25% and transaction losses by over 30%. With innovations like WhatsApp-enabled transfers, multilingual virtual assistance, and real-time pricing that keeps costs below global averages, Remitly ensures 92% of transfers arrive in under an hour. In a market where every transaction carries personal meaning, Remitly continues to make global payments simpler, safer, and more human.

Best BNPL: PayJoy

Tearsheet’s Best BNPL award goes to PayJoy, recognized for its approach to expanding financial access in emerging markets. As a Public Benefit Corporation, PayJoy helps millions of first-time borrowers build credit responsibly through its innovative lending model that turns smartphones into collateral. By combining predictive AI with alternative data, the company provides fair and transparent credit to those previously excluded from traditional finance, without charging compound interest or late fees. With operations spanning eight countries and over $3 billion in credit provided to 15 million customers, PayJoy’s impact is tangible. Its capital structure, including the $250 million PayJoy Asset Fund backed by T. Rowe Price, enables sustainable growth while empowering entrepreneurs, small business owners, and families to achieve financial stability. As PayJoy continues to grow, its model stands as proof that access to credit can be both equitable and transformative.

Best Payments App: Instant Financial

Instant Financial takes the crown for Tearsheet’s Best Payments App award for making payday an everyday reality for America’s hourly workforce. Long before earned wage access became a buzzword, Instant Financial spotted the disconnect between how fast money could move in the modern world and how slowly workers actually got paid. Through its app, the firm lets workers access their earnings and tips at the end of each shift — no waiting for payday, no late fees piling up. Today, Instant Financial stands out for combining earned wage access, digital tips, and instant pay through banks, wallets, and paycards — all in one app. By helping workers access over $7.5 billion in wages and $4.5 billion in tips, Instant is giving people more control over their pay and peace of mind in how they manage everyday life.

Best Virtual Card Provider: Extend

Extend is once again Tearsheet’s Best Virtual Card Provider, earning the honor for the third year in a row by helping businesses modernize payments without overhauling existing systems. By partnering with major banks and card networks like American Express, Mastercard, and Visa, Extend lets SMBs instantly issue virtual cards from their existing corporate cards, while giving financial institutions the tools to roll out next-gen payment solutions quickly. Beyond card issuance, Extend’s platform offers team budgets, spend controls, approvals, receipt capture, and reconciliation all in one place. With over 10,000 business customers, billions in annual charge volume, and a 50% year-over-year growth in payment volume, Extend is helping businesses shift spending away from checks and wires while enabling banks to offer smarter, more secure virtual payment solutions. From embedded SAP Concur workflows to mobile wallet functionality with BMO, Extend is showing how virtual cards can fit into the way businesses already work — unlocking more value without changing the rules.