After an employee dinner or a night out with friends, settling the check can be a chore. While Venmo has become one of the most popular ways to pay someone back, figuring out who owes what still often requires patience and guesswork. Now, Venmo is looking to take some of the guesswork out of splitting the bill with a new receipt-based feature.
With the feature, users can take a photo of a receipt or upload one to the Venmo app. The app then itemizes the bill, accounts for taxes and tips, and allows users to assign individual items and their corresponding costs. While dining out may be the most obvious use case, Venmo sees potential applications in group grocery runs, trips, and holiday shopping.
A Dominant Force
The feature follows a similar capability recently introduced in an Apple Wallet update. The functionality allows users to photograph a receipt, divide items among friends and family, and generate payment requests through Apple Cash, Apple’s peer-to-peer (P2P) payment service.
But while Apple has a substantial ecosystem, Venmo has an established position in the competitive P2P payments market. The PayPal subsidiary has more than 80 million U.S. users, many of whom fall into sought-after younger demographics, including Gen Z.
That user base gives Venmo an established role in consumers’ everyday financial lives, creating opportunities to expand beyond P2P payments. The company now offers deposit accounts, crypto trading, and credit cards, among other financial products.
Beyond P2P Payments
This expansion reflects a broader strategy across fintechs—using an initial payments relationship to introduce consumers to a wider range of financial services.
For some companies, that ambition has extended to becoming banks themselves. A growing number of fintechs have pursued bank charters, with several receiving regulatory approval.
Venmo’s receipt-based bill-splitting feature is a much smaller step in comparison, but it addresses a familiar friction point in one of the app’s most common use cases. By making it easier to divide expenses and settle up, the company is adding another reason for consumers to turn to Venmo in their everyday transactions.
