The global payment company Stripe finally executed their expansion in the Middle East and was announced very recently. They’ve officially launched their platform in the UAE with their first office opening in the Dubai Internet City. The private beta of the company was already launched a couple of months ago before this big launch. They’ve been aiming their expansion to the Middle East and working on it since 2019. The platform is currently the second-largest online payment platform that has proceeded to its expansion in the region in the last 6 months. Adyen, another popular online payment platform has also opened its office in Dubai in order to support local payments and transactions in Egypt and the GCC.
Stripe is only available for businesses in the UAE on their initial release. The company stated about enabling their business to further accept various transactions and payments on a global scale along with making payouts. Their launch in the UAE also implies making things easier for Stripe’s already existing clients to be provided with regional products and services along the way. And their presence in the UAE will inspire global businesses to be done in the Middle East and of course, the UAE.
This popular company is known for its most user-friendly way of accepting online payments along with other transaction-related features. In the old days, UAE used to require onerous processes to provide a working payment solution between customers and providers. But this launch of Stripe will ensure a secure online setup with easier processes for handing out payments for UAE businesses to have access to the internet economy.
“The UAE is a thriving hub for technology, supported by strong investor appetite, internet-savvy consumers, and an open, innovative ecosystem of business leaders and entrepreneurs. Similarly, the pool of tech talent in the Middle East is growing very rapidly. However, companies still face challenges when trying to accept payments, make payouts, and manage the financial side of internet businesses. Stripe removes these complexities so businesses can focus on what makes them special. Our launch today also means we can now connect our global user base to the Gulf, enabling them to seamlessly expand their operations in the region,” said The EMEA Business Lead at Stripe, Matt Handerson.
Their initial launch indicates providing services to only the regional businesses that have registered interest in this particular launching event. In their initial phases, they’re setting up the queue for invitations to contain the demand from clients and the waitlist contains over 10k companies which says a lot about the launch. A lot of popular companies including startups have been using the platform like WeKeep and ChatFood since they were already a part of the pre-launch private beta program.
The latest expansion of Stripe in the Middle East has already been valued by the funding round about $95B and that’s not all. This valuation makes the company the most valued private company in the entire USA. Stripe has launched their UAE expansion by partnering with Dubai-headquartered Network International.
Stripe already commented on a statement, “The growth of UAE e-commerce is forecast to continue, with the sector expected to add nearly another $10bn over the next two years.”
