PayPal expands Venmo NIL deals with nine college athletes

On 17 September 2026, PayPal Holdings announced that its Venmo unit kicked off its 2026-2027 Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) campaign with nine student-athletes across football, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics and softball. Seven of the nine athletes compete in women's sports. The initiative includes Money Moves, a program allowing participants to receive part of their NIL earnings through Venmo and transfer funds to teammates, coaches, mentors, family and fans.

The campaign will distribute content across Instagram and TikTok throughout the academic year. According to Venmo-commissioned research, 68% of surveyed college students stated that splitting costs helps prevent financial friction among friends, and 63% were more inclined to participate in plans when expenses could be split digitally.

The marketing push follows operational expansion in the second quarter of 2026, when Venmo total payment volume increased 14% year over year to approximately $93.8 billion, marking seven consecutive quarters of double-digit expansion. During the same quarter, Pay with Venmo volume rose 44%, and monthly active accounts for the Venmo Debit Card grew by more than 50%. Customers using both Venmo Debit and Pay with Venmo generated over nine times the average revenue per account compared with peer-to-peer users.

Shares of PayPal have climbed 25.2% over the past three months. The stock trades at a forward 12-month price-to-earnings multiple of 9.28, compared with the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry average of 17.82. The Zacks consensus estimate for full-year 2026 earnings per share was revised upward to $5.38 over the past month, representing projected annual growth of 1.13%.