Stripe reports rise in transactions but a 'significant deceleration' in growth

Patrick and John Collison, co-founders of Stripe.

Transactions at Irish-founded payment giant Stripe jumped by 26% last year but the company admits growth has slowed compared to previous years.

In its 2022 annual letter, Patrick and John Collision — the company’s Irish founders — said while the transactions did grow it still represents a “significant deceleration” compared to the growth reported in previous years. In 2021, transactions grew 60% to €585bn compared to the year prior.

Last year, transactions grew to €747bn.

The slowing pace of growth in the company was flagged by the brothers in its company update last year as it had benefited from people turning to selling online as a result of the pandemic.

Stripe said the number of new businesses coming to Stripe increased by 19% last year averaging more than 1,000 a day.

The letter added that while the US remains the company’s largest market, 55% of the business that joined Stripe in 2022 were based outside of it. The company now supports businesses in 50 countries.

In the letter, the Collision brothers said they are “as confident as ever” in the internet economy’s long-term prospects.

“We’re heartened by the steady advancement of the millions of businesses we serve in the face of banking crises, war, pestilence, energy shocks, supply chain issues, inflation, and broader volatility.” 

The company said that more than 100 companies now handle more than $1bn in payments across its services every year.

“This set continues to grow rapidly, expanding by more than 50% each year since 2018,” the letter said.

In November last year, Stripe announced it would be reducing its global workforce by 14% equating to approximately 1,000 jobs.

Stripe has recently seen its valuation drop to €50bn from a high reported in March 2021 of €95bn. This comes following another funding round where the company raised $6.5bn (€5.94bn) from investors.

However, Stripe is not a publicly traded company as such valuations are based on estimates from funding rounds.