Stripe
A company that lets websites and apps accept online payments with a few lines of code.
Stripe was founded in 2010 by Patrick and John Collison, two brothers from Ireland, and is based in San Francisco and Dublin. It sells the plumbing for online payments: when you pay with a card in an app or on a website, there is a good chance Stripe is the one moving the money behind the scenes.
Accepting cards used to mean contracts with banks, long paperwork and strict security rules for storing card numbers. Stripe turned it into an API: a developer adds a few lines of code, the customer's card details go straight from the payment form to Stripe, and the shop receives a token, a stand-in that represents the card without revealing it. Stripe then talks to the card networks and the customer's bank, checks for fraud, and later deposits the money in the shop's account.
Around that core it built more products: recurring billing for subscriptions, tools for marketplaces that split each payment among many sellers, invoices, tax calculation and support for many local payment methods. It makes money by charging a fee on each transaction, usually a small percentage plus a fixed amount, so it earns more as its customers sell more.
Keep in mind
- Founded in 2010 by brothers Patrick and John Collison, from Ireland.
- Turns accepting card payments into a few calls to its API.
- Card data goes to Stripe; the shop only keeps a token that stands for it.
- Earns a fee on each payment it processes.
