Microsoft has selected Checkout.com to handle digital payments for products including Xbox, Microsoft 365 and Azure in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The agreement covers card acceptance across Microsoft's business lines in the region.
Under the arrangement, Microsoft will use Checkout.com's acquiring services for payments in EMEA and connect the provider directly to its payments API. The setup is intended to give Microsoft a single system for routing transactions across a broad range of consumer and business products.
The tie-up also includes Intelligent Acceptance, Checkout.com's transaction-routing tool, which uses network data to direct payments and reduce failed transactions. Microsoft plans to deploy the system as part of its payments operations in the region.
For Checkout.com, the deal adds one of the world's largest technology groups to a customer roster that already includes digital platforms and consumer internet brands. Microsoft's payments flows span gaming, productivity software and cloud computing, making the mandate notable for both its volume and mix of end users.
Microsoft's inclusion of Xbox, Microsoft 365 and Azure means the partnership spans both consumer and enterprise spending. Xbox handles game and subscription purchases, Microsoft 365 covers widely used workplace software, and Azure underpins cloud services used by companies and developers.
Payments scope
Checkout.com was selected to support card acceptance in EMEA, a region that combines mature card markets with countries where payment approval rates and local acquiring arrangements can vary widely. For large multinational merchants, those differences can determine whether transactions are completed smoothly or declined.
By integrating directly with Microsoft's payments infrastructure, Checkout.com will sit within the flow of customer and business payments for a range of digital services. That matters because subscription renewals, one-off purchases, and business billing each create distinct payment patterns, requiring systems that can handle both repeat transactions and larger commercial payments.
Checkout.com said its Intelligent Acceptance system runs 26,000 optimisations a minute and has unlocked more than USD $20 billion in merchant revenue. According to the company, the tool uses real-time data from its global network to route transactions to improve authorisation rates.
The announcement offers further visibility into how large technology groups are reworking the payments infrastructure behind online services. Rather than treating payments as a back-office function, companies that sell subscriptions, cloud services, and digital goods are increasingly seeking to reduce failed transactions and manage payments across multiple markets with fewer partners.
Checkout.com, based in London, said it processed more than USD $300 billion in eCommerce payment volume in 2025. The company supports more than 145 currencies and processes billions of transactions each year, according to figures it provided.
Executive comments
Guillaume Pousaz, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Checkout.com, said the agreement reflected the demands of supporting a large global technology company.
"Microsoft has been at the forefront of every major technological shift – from the rise of personal computing to the cloud, and now AI," said Guillaume Pousaz, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Checkout.com. "Supporting a company with this depth of legacy and forward momentum requires payments infrastructure that is resilient, adaptable and engineered for continuous innovation. This is a testament to the performance and flexibility our platform delivers, and we're proud to play a role in powering the commerce layer behind the technologies millions rely on every day."
Microsoft framed the partnership around the need for a consistent way to accept payments across its different product lines and geographies.
"As a global business, we need payments partners that can support our business lines with a unified, high-performance way to accept payments worldwide," said Pankaj Gudimella, General Manager of Microsoft Treasury. "Checkout.com brings a modern payments platform, along with strong payments expertise and robust global acquiring capabilities. Their technology supports the performance and reliability we need as we continue to enhance the commerce experience across Microsoft's products and services."