How Littlepay made catching the bus as simple as a tap

When was the last time you thought about how you pay for a bus or train? Probably never. You tap your card or phone, the gate opens, and you’re on your way. It’s seamless. Effortless. Invisible.

But behind that tap lies a maze of technology, systems, calculations, and risks. Making something feel this easy is anything but simple.

That’s the challenge Littlepay set out to solve. They took a complex payment process – filled with unique fares, offline taps, and split-second processing – and made it work like magic.

Littlepay didn’t just happen. It’s the product of persistence, focus, and a team obsessed with solving one hard problem, exceptionally well.

At the helm of this team is Littlepay’s Chief Executive Officer, Amin Shayan, who shares his story and lessons for anyone building something new.

Here’s how it all began

Littlepay wasn’t born in a garage or a converted spare bedroom. It began in the fluorescent offices of an investment fund.

“That fund owned a transit ticketing business, and the business realised they needed to process card payments,” says Amin.

This was 2016. Contactless payment was still a novelty, even in retail. Bringing the same technology to public transport felt almost futuristic. What started as a small problem soon took on a life of its own.

“The idea behind Littlepay was to process micropayments, which is why it was called Littlepay. It was initially intended to cover more than just public transport.”

Ambition though, as Amin soon learned, works best when it’s sharpened.

“When I took over as CEO two years in, we narrowed the focus to transit and mobility. That allowed us to rationalise our efforts, be more focused, and make Littlepay the best option for transit payments.”

How to make technology that works for everyone

Littlepay had identified a specific problem: paying for public transport was hard. The process was outdated, cumbersome, and expensive. With this as the baseline, the team set out to simplify those payments.

Amin describes those early days: “We started by trying to build something that wasn’t just for London or Sydney, but something that smaller cities could afford. The big players had solutions, but we wanted to democratise the technology.”

Littlepay had to build a system that allowed riders to pay with something they already had: a credit card, a debit card, or a smartphone.

But transit payments aren’t like retail. When you buy something in a store, the price is known upfront, and the transaction can take a few seconds. Things are different with public transport:

• 1. Unknown fares: Riders don’t know the total cost when they tap. The system has to calculate fares after the journey based on zones, caps, and discounts.
• 2. Speed: Transactions need to process in under 300 milliseconds. Anything slower creates bottlenecks at gates or bus entrances.
• 3. Offline risk: Payment terminals often work offline. They have to authenticate a card without checking the account balance, which is risky for operators.

With technology to connect phones, cards, banks, and transport companies, Littlepay tackled these challenges head-on, and built a platform for cities to adopt contactless payments without the high costs.

“We wanted to take the complexity out of the operator’s hands,” Amin explains. And that they did. The system now manages fare rules, tracks payments, and handles reporting, all in one place.

For riders, it’s seamless. For operators, it’s transformative.

Scale with tight vision and relentless focus

Littlepay launched its first trial in Oxford, England, in 2017. And while any system has its teething stage, it worked. Passengers tapped their cards, buses moved on time, and operators got paid.

From there, the company began scaling. Today, they handle payments for over 250 public transport operators across 13 countries.

But scaling wasn’t easy. Each city brought new challenges. Different fare systems, regulations, and infrastructure meant no two deployments were the same.

Winning contracts in Helsinki and Washington, DC, forced Littlepay to prove they could handle complex, multi-stakeholder systems. As Amin says:

“It’s one thing to run payments for a small bus fleet,” Shayan says. “It’s another to integrate with a major city’s sprawling network. You’re dealing with more stakeholders, more moving parts, and higher stakes.”

Amin credits their success to a relentless focus of one problem. It’s why they narrowed in the early days.

“Transit was messy and hard, but that’s why it was worth doing,” Amin reflects. “We realised we had the chance to build something world-class if we just stayed focused.”

The role of a startup community

Littlepay’s growth wasn’t just through technology, but through space and community.

“When we started, there were about 15 of us in a small office in Geelong, with two or three people in Melbourne,” says Amin. “Gradually, we began hiring more in Melbourne, and it became our headquarters.”

It was here that Littlepay joined Stone & Chalk. “We started with just a few desks,” Amin recalls. “Over time, we became one of the largest tenants.”

For a growing startup, the support was invaluable. “The flexibility at Stone & Chalk, of scaling our space as we grew and leveraging the community to support our employees, was critical,” says Amin.

They say culture is what shapes a workplace and for Littlepay that’s no exception. But creating a company culture from scratch is no small feat. For a small team, it can feel like trying to light a fire with wet paper.

“When it's your own office, you don't have much of a community. There are no events. You have to do everything yourself,” Amin notes. “You have to invest a lot of time to create a bit of culture.

“With Stone and Chalk, you get to borrow some of the culture of the community. And it's a really good culture.”

That shared culture and support gave Littlepay opportunities to grow, and Amin highlights the value of talking to others in the community. “Talk to people who've gone through it, learn from them, learn from their mistakes. Most founders are willing to chat.”

Lessons from Littlepay for new entrepreneurs

Those conversations with fellow founders over lunch turned into breakthroughs for Littlepay, and likewise, their story is full of lessons for entrepreneurs and builders.

The biggest, Amin shares, is to start with one problem and nail it. Littlepay didn’t try to solve everything. They focused on one problem, public transport payments, and made it their domain.

It’s far easier to attract customers when you have a specific solution to a specific problem, and far easier to beat out the competition too.

The second piece of advice Amin shares is to hire for growth.** **Littlepay invests in their junior and mid-level talent and develops them into leaders.

“It’s easier to grow leaders internally than to bring in outsiders who don’t understand your culture,” Amin explains.

The growth mindset is evident in their company, and it’s a powerful force that continues to drive their success to this day.

What’s next for Amin and Littlepay

As Littlepay has grown to over 65 employees, it’s a chance to make the move to a bigger space in Melbourne, and graduate as a Stone & Chalk alumnus. And while that is a little bittersweet, it also opens the door to new opportunities.

With their expertise firmly set, Littlepay is ready to widen the horizon. Littlepay isn’t stopping at public transport. They’re expanding into new areas like parking, electric vehicle charging, and micro-mobility.

The goal is to create a unified payment system for all forms of urban transport. “Mobility is bigger than transit,” Amin says. “It’s about connecting everything.”

The way Littlepay sees the world, you could tap to park your car at the station, hop on a train, and then switch to a scooter for the last leg – all seamlessly paid for with the same system.

At its core, Littlepay’s mission hasn’t changed. They’re still focused on making payments easy. And they’re doing it by solving one hard problem at a time.

Final thoughts

Littlepay’s story serves as a powerful reminder that great companies aren’t always built on flashy ideas. Instead, they’re built on persistence, focus, and a willingness to tackle the problems others overlook, or consider too messy or hard.

If you’ve ever tapped a card to board a bus or train and thought nothing of it, you’ve felt the quiet brilliance of their work. That’s the hallmark of great technology: you don’t notice it, you just know that it works.

For anyone starting something new, the lessons are simple but profound: pick one problem, solve it exceptionally well, and keep going.