A Conversation with Matt Brennan, CEO of Pay with Spire
When you talk to Matt Brennan, the conversation tends to span continents, industries, and several eras of the digital economy. Before he took the helm at Pay with Spire, Brennan spent 16 years at Apple: spanning the iPod renaissance, the early iPhone launches across Asia, and Apple’s high-stakes push to grow its commercial business in the 2010’s.
In short, he has lived through multiple waves of disruption. And when he says there’s a major shift coming in payments, it’s worth listening to.
We sat down with Brennan earlier this month to talk about Pay with Spire, what’s driving real adoption of pay-by-bank today, and why SMB merchants may soon be in a better position to control their payment costs than ever before.
A Product Born Out of an Earlier Attempt at Disruption
Brennan shared the story of Pay with Spire which starts with one word many longtime industry watchers still remember: MCX.
Back then, BIM Networks was the technology provider enabling MCX members to offer account-to-account (A2A– payments from a consumer’s bank account) payments inside merchant apps. The consortium failed to materialize as imagined, but interestingly, the fuel sector — long known for tight margins and high consumer frequency — remained eager to introduce A2A payments solutions for its customers. Phillips 66 became the first large adopter, followed by others in branded fuel.
But the early stage of A2A had a problem: consumer adoption. Even when the tech worked well, the value proposition was not compelling for consumers. Merchants grew skeptical. “Both Consumers and Merchants became fatigued,” Brennan explains.
By 2022, BIM’s team began rethinking the model from the ground up. The key insight: if you could create a payment experience identical to debit or credit — including a 16-digit PAN (16 digit card number) — while settling via ACH rails, you could combine the familiarity of a credit card transaction with the meaningful cost efficiency of an ACH transaction.
A conversation with Discover helped accelerate the idea – using the Discover rails made the “lift” for merchants to accept Pay with Spire virtually zero – if they accepted Discover, they could accept Pay with Spire with no systems changes, and by late 2024, the first merchant launched on what is now the Pay with Spire platform.
“They doubled transaction volume instantly,” Brennan says. “That’s when we knew we needed to rebuild everything — brand, credibility, the entire platform.”
Thus, Pay with Spire was born.
So…What Makes Pay with Spire Different?
Most pay-by-bank solutions rely on A2A transfers that ask customers to authorize bank account access in real time. Functionally sound — but still a leap for average consumers.
Pay with Spire took a different approach.
✓ A familiar experience for customers
By linking their bank account up-front and issuing a 16-digit PAN, Pay with Spire lets consumers use what feels like a traditional card — but processes the transaction via ACH behind the scenes. No learning curve. No behavioral friction.
✓ A compelling value proposition
Most consumers are happy to link a bank account if there’s a clear benefit. 42% of total bill payments are made directly from bank accounts, and Pay with Spire understands this behavior will apply to other, frequently paid vendors such as service stations. Pay with Spire enables merchants to offer instant savings or rewards that customers actually understand via a white-label payment that merchants can brand and get credit for the savings and rewards the customers receive. And merchants can use the payment cost savings driven by Pay with Spire to fund those rewards to drive incremental basket size, frequency, and increased customer lifetime value. As Brennan puts it: “It’s the idea that you can use debit and get rewarded for it.”
✓ Built for high-frequency, everyday spend
The platform thrives where customers shop twice a month or more:
- Grocery
- Fuel
- Convenience
- Coffee and QSR
- Other everyday-spend retailers
In these categories, rewards matter, but familiarity matters even more.
Adoption Numbers That Would Make Any Startup Jealous
In an environment where consumer adoption is notoriously difficult, Brennan says Pay with Spire has achieved what many in the pay-by-bank space have not: tangible, repeat usage at scale.
- 65% of the branded fuel market, strong growth in convenience and grocery, opening up QSR and specialty coffee
- 1 million consumers enrolled (customers who have made at least one transaction)
- 70–80% retention (enrolled consumers with multiple transactions) — unusually strong for any new payment method and even high compared to a 65 – 70% rate for established payment methods.
For SMBs wondering whether consumers will adopt a new payment option the first time — and come back a second time, those numbers should raise eyebrows.
Why Consumers Actually Use It
Across early deployments, one lesson stands out: incentives work, but clarity matters more than generosity.
A small instant discount at the grocery store. A cents-off reward at the pump. A fast way to earn store credits at checkout.
Brennan noted that the merchants with the highest lift did one simple thing well:
They told customers the payment option existed.
A button inside the app, a prompt from the cashier, or even an in-store message to ask about the payment type was enough to drive signups.
What’s Coming in 2026: New Tools for SMBs
While Pay with Spire is already live mostly with larger merchants, Brennan made it clear that SMBs are very much part of the roadmap.
Upcoming enhancements include:
- Solutions for merchants without an app or digital wallet
(A major barrier to entry for smaller retailers today.) - Machine-learning–driven marketing tools
Merchants will be able to reach the right customers with the right offer at the right time, all while maintaining consumer confidentiality. - More network effects
Each new merchant increases the value of the platform, while velocity parameters and merchant-specific PANs maintain security and control.
In short: the barrier to offering a next-gen, low-cost payment option is about to get a lot lower — particularly for merchants who rely on repeat, loyal customers.
Why This Matters for SMBs Right Now
With interchange-fee debates and settlements swirling — and debit increasingly functioning as “digital cash” — SMBs are hungry for ways to compete without sacrificing margin.
Pay with Spire offers something rare in payments:
A way to lower acceptance costs while giving customers a reason to choose you more often.
For many readers of this newsletter, that alone makes it worth a closer look. Whether you’re a fuel retailer, grocer, café owner, or fast-growing ecommerce brand, now is a good time to understand where pay-by-bank is headed and whether Pay with Spire’s model fits your business before your competitors adopt it first.
Want to Learn More?
The Pay with Spire team is easy to reach and happy to talk with merchants of all sizes.
You can connect via:
- https://paywithspire.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/paywithspire/
- info@paywithspire.com