Computop

Computop is a payment service provider from Bamberg in Bavaria, built up from 1997 by Ralf Gladis and Frank Arnoldt. Nexi, the Italian payments group, bought 30% of the company in 2023 and the remaining shares in September 2025. Computop carries on as a separate company inside Nexi, with Stephan Kück taking over from Gladis as chief executive. It has had sales offices in New York, London and Shanghai.

Its product is Paygate, a gateway that sits between the merchant and its acquirers rather than acquiring card payments itself. Paygate has interfaces to more than 50 acquiring banks, so a retailer can keep existing contracts or spread volume across several, and Computop counts over 350 payment methods and acquirers on the platform in total. Alongside cards it handles PayPal, iDEAL, direct debit, PayU in central Europe, Apple Pay with girocard, Google Pay, Click to Pay, Swish, TWINT and BLIK, and it added Wero in November 2024. Fraud screening, tokenisation and currency conversion are built in. Computop also says its customers can run the same omnichannel setup in the US, Canada and Australia as in Europe, and it sells a Pay to Drive package for fuel and charging payments.

The client base leans towards large retailers and brands. When Computop took over the Otto Group's EOS payment business, around 300 retailers and 100 Otto brands moved onto Paygate. Prices are agreed per contract and are not published.

Computop suits enterprise merchants with several acquirers or an international footprint who want one gateway in front of them. Because its model leaves the choice of acquirer to the merchant, a card acquiring contract is needed alongside the gateway. Small shops wanting a quick self-service account will find simpler options. Ask Computop which acquirers and local methods it can connect in your markets before committing.