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As we’re all now well aware, the COVID-19 outbreak triggered an extreme surge of digitisation. This development has shown up many shortcomings, highlighted plenty of opportunities for further development – and given an enormous boost to digital business models that were already performing well.
Stripe Group, a fintech based in the USA, is a good example of the latter. Founded in San Francisco back in 2010, the company’s primary business activity is online payment processing on behalf of merchants in the e-commerce sector in particular. The company aims to become a one-stop shop for every possible payment method required for online trading, such as credit cards, PayPal and on-account invoicing. So Stripe specialises mainly in e-commerce payment transactions.
But you’d be seriously mistaken if you assumed that Stripe was just a self-service solution for small businesses. As it happens, Stripe already has over 100 enterprise customers and is continuously expanding its global footprint, with a head office in San Francisco and a European head office in Dublin, not to mention offices in London, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo. The company claims to support more than 135 currencies, and operates in 42 countries, 31 of them in Europe. Back in April 2020, Stripe was valued at $35 billion…
But the e-commerce boom caused by the coronavirus crisis is driving up digital payment volumes worldwide – and since it started, Stripe has been able to attract more big investors and expand its business model. This has resulted in multiple applications such as Radar, which detects and blocks fraudulent transactions; Sigma, a data analysis tool, and Atlas, a platform for helping other U.S. startups build their own online businesses. Stripe is also working on products for helping companies to understand and comply with regulatory requirements. All these developments have boosted the firm’s valuation: Stripe is now worth $95 billion, making it the most valuable (unlisted) company in Silicon Valley. Stripe has even overtaken Facebook and Uber, valued at $80 billion and $70 billion respectively.
This democratisation of online payments is yet another example of how tomorrow’s technology is affecting us today. Stripe’s success story should serve as a wake-up call for European banks and payment services providers. Companies that are still operating without a digital market presence or SaaS-based digital business model will be overtaken by those that are making worthwhile contributions to digitisation. Meaning that managers with digital transformation expertise are more in demand than ever.
Our Certified Digital Business Advisor course gives you the expertise you need to identify the risks inherent in digital transformation while seizing opportunities for your business. The programme’s primary focus is on developing digital business models. The time has come: Harness the digital transformation to satisfy your customers’ ever-growing demands – we’ll be happy to assist!
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