Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, today marked its 10th anniversary serving Irish businesses, with the release of data revealing widespread, rapid growth in the country’s internet economy.
Founded by Co Tipperary brothers Patrick and John Collison, the company has become a global business.
Stripe’s data provides a window into Ireland’s growth. In 2013, only a few hundred Irish businesses used Stripe. Now, "tens of thousands of ventures run on Stripe, with hundreds more joining every week".
They include technology companies such as Glofox and Wayflyer that were built on Stripe from the beginning, and heritage enterprises like the GAA, Irish Life, and Smyths Toys Superstores that are "reinventing themselves for the digital age". Over the last decade, Irish businesses have processed more than €20 billion on Stripe.
“Thinking back to when we launched Stripe, Ireland’s tech scene is like night and day. 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. 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,” said John Collison, cofounder and president of Stripe.
After a decade of expansion, Ireland’s internet economy has "a lot more room to grow". Official statistics reveal that, even during the pandemic, only 22 per cent of goods and services were ordered online. Businesses in health, education, and other large Irish industries are only just starting to transition to the internet, according to Stripe. The country’s small businesses still generate four-fifths of their revenue from in-person sales, according to the European Commission.
Stripe has predicted a promising decade to come in terms of the internet economy.
