Global Online Payment Startup Stripe Expands To Canada

By: Talha Bhatti  |   September 25th, 2012   |   Business, News, O Canada

Any developer will tell you that integrating online payment modules for different processors globally can be a time consuming task. A start up named Stripe has tried to solve this by giving developers only one API to deal with so that integrating many different payment processors will be easier and significantly faster. After only one year, Stripe has now expanded to Canada after starting off at home in the US. The Canadian move is the first step in a journey for the company to create a global platform that will allow its users to accept payment easily from anywhere in the world.

 

The expansion is a solid first step for the company after it was readily accepted by developers in the US. The simplicity and ease of use involving the Stripe API made the service provider a favorite among developers and now Canadian coders will also get a chance to work with the company and take advantage of the flat pricing, instant setup and the ability to accept all major credit cards.

 

Stripe took time to test out Canadian waters with a limited beta during the summer months when it worked with Tarsnap, MetaLab, and Shopify. After the satisfactory results, the startup will now start its service all over Canada on September 19.

 

Stripe should be a breath of fresh air for Canadian sellers. The process for setting up a merchant account through a bank was a very complicated and drawn out process in Canada. Many companies ended up wasting a lot of money and time trying to accept payments online. Shopify founder Tobia Lütke has said that they face many problems when trying to convince banks in Canada to let them accept payments. He also compared the 100 payment processors his company had implemented before and mentioned that it had never been this easy to do before.

 

Stripe co-founder, Patrick Collison, talked a little bit more about the Canadian expansion and the unique problems that the company faced. He mentions that Canada is controlled by legacy payment processors which make online payment processing a problem. He also said that the lack of infrastructure and facilities posed major stumbling blocks. The company solved thes issues by working with American Express and Wells Fargo that had to build new systems from the ground up to allow Stripe to work in Canada.

 

Collison also stated that the experience with Canada will help the company expand qickly into other countries. He said that, “A lot of the work we did to support more than one country will make it easier to move to other countries. We’ve put a foundation in place to make this a global payment infrastructure.” With the first international location on board, Stripe can now focus on other countries in its global quest and expansion plans.

 

Source: Giga Om