Flywire Corp FLYW

The business

Flywire moves large, complicated payments for institutions that invoice people across borders: a university collecting tuition from an international student, a hospital collecting a patient bill, a luxury tour operator collecting a trip deposit, a business collecting an invoice. It sells vertical software (invoicing, reconciliation, payment plans) wrapped around a licensed global payment network, and it keeps a slice of each payment. Education carries the franchise: it is the largest vertical by revenue, and payment processing does the heavy lifting overall, with transaction revenue at $155M of the $184M Q1-26 total (84%). Canada and Australia student payments alone were roughly 15% of total revenue going into 2025, which is why tightened student visas in those markets broke the stock.

What the financials don't show is that the demand side of this business is set by immigration policy in four countries: student visa issuance in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia drives the education volumes, and the February 2025 reset (initial FY25 guidance of 9% to 13% FX-neutral growth, a 37% one-day drop, 10% layoffs) was a policy event, not a competitive one. The last two quarters changed the picture: Q1-26 revenue grew 43% on a spot basis and 37% FX-neutral per management's Q1 call, with education software consolidation wins (Cornell, Penn State, Edinburgh) and hospitality growth from Sertifi (software for hotel event bookings, roughly $325M cash, closed February 2025) now in the base. Management raised FY26 guidance to 18% to 24% FX-neutral growth. The moat, in one sentence, is switching costs: the software is wired into each institution's receivables workflow and student information systems, with a compliance-heavy payout network behind it that took fifteen years to license and build.