According to Business Insider, PayPal’s chief corporate affairs officer Amy Bonitatibus revealed that Venmo is now processing “tens of millions of dollars” in name, image, and likeness payments to college athletes. The company has partnered with major athletic conferences to handle these transactions securely while providing financial literacy to young athletes who’ve never seen that kind of money before. Bonitatibus, who joined PayPal in May 2024 after leadership roles at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, also discussed PayPal’s push into agentic commerce. The company is partnering with AI agent companies to create end-to-end shopping experiences where customers can discover and purchase items like “the most popular red sweater” without leaving the interface.
From splitting bills to paying athletes
Here’s the thing about Venmo – it’s one of those rare brands that actually became a verb. You don’t “send money,” you “Venmo me.” And PayPal is leveraging that cultural relevance in a pretty brilliant way. When the NCAA finally allowed college athletes to get paid for their name, image, and likeness, Venmo was already the default payment method on campuses. So instead of universities cutting paper checks or setting up complicated wire transfers, they’re just using the app students already have.
But the real genius move? They’re not just processing payments. They’re using this as an opportunity to build lifelong financial relationships with these athletes. Think about it – a 19-year-old suddenly gets a five-figure payment for an endorsement deal. That’s overwhelming. By providing financial literacy and branded debit cards, Venmo becomes their financial home base. And let’s be honest, if you get used to managing serious money through Venmo in college, you’re probably not switching to something else after graduation.
PayPal’s AI shopping revolution
Now let’s talk about this “agentic commerce” thing. Basically, PayPal is betting that AI shopping assistants will replace traditional search and browsing. You know how you might ask ChatGPT “what’s the best red sweater under $50?” and it gives you options? The problem is you still have to go to another site to actually buy it. PayPal wants to eliminate that friction by embedding their payment system directly into these AI agents.
So imagine this: an AI knows your size, your style preferences, and your budget. It shows you the perfect red sweater. Instead of clicking through to a retailer’s website, you just tap to pay right there using PayPal. No forms, no shipping info to re-enter, no creating yet another account. It’s a pretty smart play for a company that basically invented online payments but has been facing increasing competition from Apple Pay, Google Pay, and buy-now-pay-later services.
The unexpected Venmo user base
What I found most interesting was Bonitatibus mentioning that Venmo’s user base includes “50-plus-year-old mothers who literally use it every day.” That’s not the demographic most people picture when they think of Venmo. We tend to imagine college students and millennials splitting brunch bills. But apparently the app has crossed generations in a way few expected.
This actually makes sense when you think about it. Parents sending money to kids in college, families coordinating shared expenses, older users realizing it’s easier than writing checks. The fact that Venmo has become multi-generational gives PayPal way more flexibility in how they market and develop the platform. They’re not just a peer-to-peer payment app anymore – they’re becoming a full financial ecosystem.
Can PayPal regain its mojo?
Let’s be real – PayPal has been through some rough quarters. The stock took a beating, competition intensified, and investors wondered if the pioneer of e-commerce had lost its edge. But this dual strategy of leveraging Venmo’s cultural dominance while betting big on the next wave of AI commerce? It’s actually pretty compelling.
The college athlete payments play is low-hanging fruit with huge upside. And the agentic commerce vision addresses a genuine pain point in the emerging AI shopping landscape. If PayPal can become the default payment layer for all these AI assistants, they could position themselves at the center of the next e-commerce revolution. The question is whether they can execute fast enough before competitors like Stripe or the big tech companies build their own solutions.
