Stripe claims to be powering two-thirds of the Tier 1 VC-backed startups in Singapore
US-based e-payments giant Stripe has officially launched in Singapore. It was previously quietly operating in beta in the country for the past 11 months.
It claims that two-thirds of Tier 1 VC-backed Tier startups in Singapore including Grab, 99.co, Tradegecko and GuavaPass have already onboarded its suite of services.
Other leading global companies including Deliveroo and Kickstarter have also leveraged Stripe to expand into Singapore.
“Singapore is a natural hub for entrepreneurs. With an active VC landscape, a supportive local ecosystem, and break out successes like Grab, Lazada and PropertyGuru, this city is spurring a new wave of economic opportunity,” said John Collison, president and co-founder at Stripe, in an official press statement.
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“We hope to be a catalyst to help more businesses get started here in Singapore and a springboard to support them as they expand globally.”
Launched in 2011, Stripe is backed to the tune of US$300 million by investors include Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.
The platform allows merchants to integrate e-payment solutions simply by adding a few lines of code into their platform – allowing them to transact with over 130 currencies in a secure framework.
In addition, Stripe enables merchants to sell their products through third party apps. For example, companies can use Stripe to sell their products through Twitter.
Merchants can also leverage on Stripe to incorporate their businesses in the US – all they have to do is fill up a web form.
Stripe joins a whole host of e-payment services including Braintree and Red Dot Payments to launch in Singapore, but it sees itself as working towards different goals from its competitors.
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“There are a few players that we overlap with on certain aspects but, for the most part, we’re working towards different goals. Stripe is concerned with lowering the barriers to starting and running an internet business. Think of Stripe as an AWS for payments: we provide a suite of cloud services designed to meet the complex needs of the new generation of internet business models — like marketplaces, crowdfunding platforms and subscriptions businesses,” said Collison.
“Beyond payments, we’re focused on building the tools and the infrastructure that reduce
development time for our users, and advance commerce online,” he added.
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