Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, recently marked its tenth anniversary serving Irish businesses, “with the release of data revealing widespread, rapid growth in the country’s internet economy.”
Over the last decade, conditions for Ireland’s internet businesses “have improved dramatically.”
Homegrown startups now “have access to a more established venture capital ecosystem, a talent pool trained at the world’s largest technology companies, and a network of experienced founders.” Many of these companies have “built tools that also help less technical businesses join the internet economy, enabling a dramatic increase in online economic activity across the country.”
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 day one, 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.
John Collison, cofounder and president of Stripe, said:
“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.”
Dublin is dominant in Ireland’s internet economy. The county is home to all seven Irish companies “valued at $1 billion or more, and to more Stripe users than any other part of the country.”
But easy access to online financial infrastructure has “provided the foundation for rapid growth beyond the capital city.”
Over the past five years, nearly all of Ireland’s counties “grew their payment volume on Stripe faster than Dublin, with the fastest acceleration occurring in counties as varied as Cork, Carlow, and Galway.”
The next decade looks “particularly promising.”
Technology that helps businesses operate online “will soon permeate the Irish economy, unlocking growth for even more traditional industries.”
Every value chain will be “redesigned around the internet, and new innovations—from artificial intelligence to fintech regulation—will unleash business models that aren’t possible today.”