Venmo’s digital wallet is finally filling up PayPal’sPYPL

pockets. The peer-to-peer payment platform, often criticized for its lackluster monetization since its 2013 acquisition, reported a 20% revenue growth in Q1. This performance comes as PayPal reported better-than-expected earnings, beating analyst projections despite slightly missing revenue targets.

• Transaction margin dollars, PayPal’s key profitability metric, grew 7% to $3.7B, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of profitable growth under CEO Alex Chriss’ leadership.
• The company added nearly 2M first-time PayPal and Venmo debit card users in Q1 — a 90% increase from last year, while Pay with Venmo transaction volume soared 50%.

Beyond the money transfer: Despite beating earnings expectations with $1.33 per share against the anticipated $1.16, PayPal maintains a cautious full-year outlook, citing “global macroeconomic uncertainty.” However, its strategic shift toward prioritizing profitability over volume appears to be yielding results. With major brands including DoorDashDASH

, StarbucksSBUX

, and Ticketmaster now accepting Venmo as a payment option, the platform’s integration into mainstream commerce continues to accelerate. As competition intensifies from rivals like Zelle and Square Cash, PayPal’s growing focus on Venmo’s monetization suggests it may have finally found a sustainable growth engine after years of investor skepticism about the acquisition’s potential.