PayPal Leads €12 Million Funding Round in Klearly to Transform Restaurant Payments Across Europe

PayPal has taken a major strategic step into the European fintech payments ecosystem by leading a €12 million Series A funding round in Klearly, an Amsterdam-based payments platform purpose-built for the hospitality sector. The investment, made through PayPal Ventures, represents a strong vote of confidence in Klearly’s mission to modernise point-of-sale (POS) systems for restaurants, bars, and clubs, supporting rapid growth and expansion across Europe.

Other participants in the round include Italian Founders Fund and existing investors such as Global PayTech Ventures, Antler Elevate, and Shapers, bringing Klearly’s total funding to approximately €20 million to date.

Hospitality is a high-volume, often high-stress environment for payments — with fluctuating customer flow, peak service hours, and the need for seamless integration across hardware and software systems. Klearly’s approach aims to solve these challenges with a specialised payments layer that integrates with leading POS systems without forcing merchants to replace existing equipment.

A Fintech Play Focused on Restaurant and Hospitality Payments

Klearly was founded to address a specific shortfall in the European merchant payments landscape: traditional point-of-sale providers tend to be generic, hardware-dependent, and ill-equipped to handle the unique demands of hospitality operations. Restaurants, bars, and clubs require payment solutions that can handle high-transaction volumes, seamless table-side processing, and quick, reliable settlement without disrupting service flow.

Klearly’s platform offers a device-agnostic payments solution that integrates directly with existing POS systems or functions as a stand-alone setup, meaning merchants do not need to overhaul their technology stack to benefit. According to the company, this enables faster, more reliable transactions — particularly important during peak dining hours or large events — and improves revenue capture per guest by speeding up service and reducing errors.

The Amsterdam-based startup has already achieved strong traction in the Netherlands, where more than 4,000 merchants are processing payments through its platform, approaching nearly €1 billion in annualised total payment volume (TPV). This level of adoption demonstrates both the market need and the scalability of Klearly’s product in real-world hospitality environments.

Sam Koekoek, CEO of Klearly, emphasised that the company’s mission is to “build Europe’s best payments system for restaurants, bars, and clubs,” focusing on a vertical-led strategy rather than attempting to compete with generic payment processors. He highlighted that Klearly’s product supports leading operators and POS partners without requiring costly new hardware or disruptive integrations.

Why PayPal Is Investing

PayPal’s involvement in this funding round is significant for several reasons. First, it signals the company’s growing interest in specialised POS innovations, particularly those that address real-world merchant pain points rather than purely digital or e-commerce transactions. While PayPal already dominates online payments globally, with a strong portfolio that includes Venmo and Braintree, its backing of Klearly reinforces an increasing focus on in-store and hospitality use cases — spaces that are ripe for digital transformation.

The participation of PayPal Ventures suggests that PayPal sees vertical-specific payment platforms as strategic complements to its broader payments network, especially in regions where contactless and integrated payments are increasing rapidly. Hospitality is a category that sees frequent, varied transactions across multiple touchpoints, from table payments to mobile ordering, and solutions that can reduce friction and boost throughput are in strong demand.

Additionally, PayPal’s investment could herald deeper collaboration, potentially including technical integrations or enhanced payment routing options leveraging PayPal’s global network and merchant relationships. While the exact nature of any future technical partnership has not been disclosed, the financial backing itself accelerates Klearly’s regional expansion plans, particularly in Italy and Belgium — two key markets beyond its foundational Dutch base.

Ashish Aggarwal, Partner at PayPal Ventures, stated that hospitality remains “one of Europe’s largest — yet least integrated — payment categories,” underscoring the strategic opportunity that Klearly aims to capture. He added that PayPal Ventures is excited to support Klearly as it scales and powers “the next generation of hospitality commerce across Europe.”

European Expansion and Market Strategy

The new capital will be used to strengthen Klearly’s go-to-market presence in Italy and Belgium, develop local sales operations, and deepen relationships with restaurant groups and POS providers. Given the diversity of European markets — each with unique regulatory, linguistic, and operational nuances — building localised commercial capabilities is key to driving adoption beyond the Netherlands.

Klearly’s strategy hinges on delivering a differentiated offering that combines ease of deployment, POS flexibility, and robust transaction performance. By avoiding the “rip-and-replace” model common among some payment tech providers, Klearly enhances its appeal to merchants who prefer incremental improvements over disruptive system changes.

The platform also invests heavily in engineering and product development, further refining features that support high-volume eateries, multi-location venues, and integrated loyalty programs. With this funding, Klearly plans to expand its engineering, operations, and commercial teams to keep pace with market demand and ensure product depth that supports future service enhancements.

Competitive Landscape and Implications

Klearly’s focused strategy positions it uniquely among European payments startups. The payments market in Europe is crowded, with major players such as Adyen, SumUp, and Mollie offering broad POS and merchant acquiring solutions. However, these platforms often target generalized merchant segments, whereas Klearly’s hospitality-first design thesis offers specialised value — especially in environments where speed and reliability are paramount.

This vertical focus mirrors trends seen in other regions, where fintech companies carve out niches by solving industry-specific problems rather than competing head-on with generic platforms. For example, some startups focus exclusively on retail ecosystems, mobile service providers, or B2B payment flows. Klearly’s ambition to be the payments backbone for hospitality — a segment that generates multi-billion-euro annual transaction volume across Europe — could give it a defensible position if it continues to innovate and scale.

However, the space is not without challenges. Competing platforms continue to invest in feature enhancements, pricing efficiency, and broader merchant ecosystems. Klearly will need to sustain product innovation and partnership depth to maintain a competitive edge, especially as POS integration becomes increasingly commoditised and standards evolve.

What This Means for the Payments Ecosystem

The PayPal-led investment round underscores broader shifts in the fintech investment landscape. Institutional capital — particularly from strategic backers like PayPal — is increasingly flowing toward companies that specialise in context-driven payment solutions rather than universal platforms. Hospitality payments, with its specific workflow requirements and service-centric usage scenarios, exemplifies a domain where tailored solutions can deliver outsized value.

The funding round also reflects the continuing belief that European fintech remains a fertile ground for innovation, especially in the merchant services and POS integration categories. With more than 4,000 active Klearly merchants already and ambitious expansion plans across multiple markets, the company is poised to play a significant role in modernising how hospitality businesses accept and manage payments.

For PayPal, supporting innovative payment startups aligns with its objective to remain relevant across evolving digital commerce frontiers. Whether through direct product integration or ecosystem facilitation, PayPal’s role in nurturing fintech innovation continues to shape the future of digital payments — from online channels to real-world service environments.

Conclusion

The PayPal-led €12 million Series A funding in Klearly signals a strategic bet on vertical fintech innovation and the future of hospitality payments in Europe. By backing a platform dedicated to simplifying and enhancing payments for restaurants, bars, and clubs, PayPal Ventures is helping to accelerate a solution that blends domain-specific utility with broader payments infrastructure.

As Klearly scales into new markets, deepens POS partnerships, and invests in product expansion, the startup may well become a core component of Europe’s next-generation in-store payment ecosystem — one that embraces speed, reliability, and merchant-centric design.

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