From left: Patrick and John Collison. Image: Stripe
Ever since it launched operations in Ireland a decade ago, the fintech founded by the Collison brothers has dominated payments for businesses big and small.
Irish businesses have processed more than €20bn in payments through Stripe, the Irish-founded fintech giant has revealed as it celebrates 10 years in the country.
Founded by Limerick brother Patrick and John Collison in 2010, Stripe only had a few hundred businesses in Ireland on its payments platform in 2013. Today, the company says tens of thousands of ventures use its tech as online economic activity continues to grow.
Some of Stripe big Irish clients include unicorn Wayflyer, Glofox (which was acquired by a US tech group last year), Irish Life, Smyths Toys and even the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA).
“Thinking back to when we launched Stripe, Ireland’s tech scene is like night and day,” said Stripe co-founder and president John Collison.
“Tech founders would find it impossibly difficult to raise money and compete for talent, and small businesses simply didn’t have the tools to operate online. Nowadays, Ireland produces software companies at industrial scale, and the internet economy is everywhere.”
While Dublin is at the vanguard of Irish online economic activity, hosting all seven unicorns in the country and more Stripe users than any other part, nearly all Irish counties have grown their payment volume on Stripe faster than the capital.
Median-sized businesses in Wexford, Cavan, and Tipperary have tripled the amount of money they collect on Stripe – the highest growth rates in the country.
Irish business is also heavily integrated into the global economy. The company has revealed that nearly 56pc of the payment volume processed by Irish businesses in the last decade came from consumers and businesses in foreign markets.
This trend was particularly strong in the software space, with more than 80pc of the payment value at software platforms and established digital-native companies coming in from overseas.
Stripe also shared that small businesses collected more €500m in revenue from international customers last year, while early-stage start-ups pursued an international strategy from the very start – receiving 51pc of their payments volume from outside Ireland.
“With new talent coming through courses like the University of Limerick’s Immersive Software Engineering and accelerators like NDRC, I’m excited to see what Irish founders build next,” added Collison.
An annual letter from the Collison brothers earlier this year revealed that Stripe processed more than $817bn in global transactions last year – a growth of 26pc over 2021.
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