KIAN JACKSON

For over a decade, the narrative in fintech was one of consolidation. Stripe, the poster child of the silicon-valley-to-global-dominance pipeline, succeeded by offering the "everything" stack. It was a monolith of convenience: one API for payments, billing, fraud prevention, and reporting. If you were starting a company, you didn't think; you just integrated Stripe. But the winds are shifting. As we navigate the mid-2020s, the "all-in-one" dream is being replaced by a more so

Here's the uncomfortable truth: your Instagram followers aren't paying your bills. Your brand advocates are. You've got 50,000 followers, engagement rates that make the marketing team smile, and a content calendar that'd make a military operation look disorganised. But when you look at your actual sales data, there's a frustrating disconnect. Those likes and shares aren't translating into foot traffic or transactions. Not in any measurable way, anyway. Enter Social Loyalty, t

Here's something wild: a 22-year-old sees a cafe's matcha latte on TikTok at 9am, taps "save," then rocks up at 11am to order it in person: expecting it to be in stock, priced exactly as advertised, and paid for with the same frictionless experience they'd get online. If your POS system can't handle that journey, you're already behind. Welcome to the era of social POS : where the line between discovery, desire, and transaction has blurred so completely that your point-of-sale

Your POS system was supposed to make life easier. Instead, it's a glorified calculator that records what's already happened. You ring up a sale. It logs the transaction. End of story. But what if your POS didn't just record revenue, what if it actively generated it? That's exactly what's happening right now with agentic AI. And if you're running a café, restaurant, bar, or hotel in 2026, this shift isn't just interesting, it's existential. What the Hell Is Agentic AI, Anyw

Remember when vending machines were just those clunky metal boxes that ate your coins and spat out stale chips? Yeah, those days are done. We're now looking at a $23.9 billion global industry that's being completely reimagined by three converging forces: artificial intelligence, health-conscious consumers, and contactless payment systems. And here's the kicker: the intelligent vending segment alone is projected to explode from $17.7 billion in 2026 to $53.2 billion by 2036.

Remember when vending machines were just clunky metal boxes that ate your coins and occasionally dropped a warm can of soft drink? Yeah, those days are long gone. We're now in the era of smart vending: where AI, computer vision, and advanced payment tech have transformed these machines into sophisticated mini-retail hubs that know what you want before you do. If you're in fintech or payments, this isn't just a fun tech story. It's a massive opportunity sitting right in front

Remember the last time you jumped out of an Uber and just... walked away? No fumbling for your wallet, no tapping a terminal, no signing a receipt. The payment just happened. That seamless moment represents a fundamental shift in how we think about transactions: and it's only the beginning. Welcome to the era of invisible payments, where AI is quietly dismantling the checkout experience as we know it. For fintech founders and executives, this isn't just a tech trend to watch.

The payments landscape is about to experience its biggest transformation since the introduction of contactless cards. As we head into 2026, startups and fintechs need to understand the seismic shifts reshaping how money moves, how consumers pay, and where the biggest opportunities lie. After analysing market data, regulatory developments, and emerging technologies, here are the key trends that will define the next wave of payment innovation – and what they mean for your busin

The AI hype train has been running full steam ahead in fintech for the past few years, but cracks are already starting to show. With 42% of companies having scrapped the majority of their AI projects by early 2025: up from just 17% a year earlier: we're witnessing the early signs of what could become a full-blown bubble burst. So what happens when the music stops? The answer isn't pretty, but it's not the apocalypse either. Let's dive into the real-world implications for fint

Google just dropped something that could completely reshape how payments work in the AI era. Their new Agent Payments Protocol (AP2),...

PayPal's launch of "Pay with Crypto" in July 2025 has sent shockwaves through the fintech ecosystem, fundamentally reshaping how we think...

Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the way businesses operate, in increasingly wide-reaching ways. Much...