American online payments company Stripe is expanding into Central and Eastern Europe, entering the market in Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Stripe will allow businesses in these countries to accept payments in over 130 currencies in as little as 10 minutes. In addition to accepting payments, companies can use Stripe to handle accounting, billing, paying out to third parties and optimising for mobile payments, all from one centralised dashboard.
“Central and Eastern Europe has a lot of entrepreneurial and technological talent, and we believe even more of its companies could be expanding globally,” commented Felix Huber, head of Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Stripe. “Stripe aims to empower more companies from this region to export their creativity and ambition to the rest of the world.”
As more activities move online, a new wave of internet companies is growing, including marketplaces, crowdfunding and subscription businesses. Stripe can equip software developers and entrepreneurs in Central and Eastern Europe with the tools they need to be part of the next batch of internet giants.
In addition to the challenges of handling multiple currencies, fraud is often one of the greatest blockers for businesses looking to sell to consumers around the world. Stripe uses sophisticated machine learning to provide fraud protection and security safeguards that protect businesses and their customers against fraudulent transactions.