U.S-based e-payment platform Stripe officially marks its presence in Aisa, with the launch in Singapore today. Though it begins its operations now, the service has been available in beta in the country for nearly a year.
With its presence in Australia already, it has betas programs in Hong Kong and Japan. Singapore, as first choice in Asia is quite obvious considering the financial hub it has become. The company says that two-thirds of companies backed by venture capital firms in Singapore are using its service including Uber rival Grab, property listing firm 99.co, and Kickstarter, which recently entered Asia.
John Collison, president and co-founder at Stripe, said in an official statement,
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.
Launched in 2011, Stripe has secured US$300 million till date by investors include Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and is valued at over $5 billion. It is a payment gateway which has been attracting businesses for its immensely simple and easy to use platform.
It offers easy to use and customizable payment solution to small and medium businesses. They need not set up a merchant account and can start accepting payments within minutes of setting up a Stripe account. Moreover, it allows them to transact in as many as 130 currencies.
The platform allows merchants to integrate e-payment solutions simply by adding a few lines of code into their platform. Moreover, it allows them to transact in as many as 130 currencies. – allowing them to transact with over 130 currencies in a secure framework. It also enables merchants to sell their products through third party apps.
Stripe is now among the available e-payment services including Braintree and Red Dot Payments to launch in Singapore, but it believes to have different goals from the existing rivals. Collision further remarked,
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.
