Stripe strengthens its presence in France and cooperation with local players

Stripe continued its Stripe Tour with a stopover in Paris, during which the company made a number of announcements. With the signing of new customers, the integration of Alma and enhanced cooperation with CB, the American payment giant is looking to establish a stronger, more lasting presence in France, and offer its services to the country's largest companies. Stripe's strategic choice was guided by the performance of French industry, particularly in the field of AI.

FACTS

• Stripe made a series of announcements on the French market during its Stripe Tour stopover in Paris.
• First of all, the American company has launched a partnership with Alma, the French leader in Buy Now Pay Later. Starting this summer, Stripe's corporate customers will be able to offer the fintech's solutions with just a few clicks.
• The financial infrastructure platform has also strengthened its partnership with the French CB network:
• French merchants will be able to offer their customers the option of paying via CB when using Apple Pay, as well as on Stripe payment terminals.
• Stripe users will also be able to capture funds multiple times via CB with a single authorization, offering merchants greater flexibility.
• Finally, extended authorization will also be available with CB, enabling hotels or car rental companies, for example, to bill customers despite the long time between order taking and billing.
• The American company is also stepping up the pace of solutions and equipment offered in France:
• For example, it intends to continue rolling out its Terminal offering, which promotes unified commerce between online and offline flows.
• Stripe launches its Reader S700 on the French market. A highly customizable, intelligent reader enabling merchants to fully adapt their platform, from table payments and tips for a restaurant, to membership and other options for a fitness center.
• The company has developed an integration enabling Cegid users to benefit from Terminal's functionalities without having to do any coding.
• Finally, Stripe will activate CB on Terminal this year, enabling French retailers to offer their customers even more varied payment options.
• At the same time, the American giant is signing up major customers in the French market. After TF1 and La Redoute, it's now the turn of the Accor hotel group to benefit from Stripe's services. The aim is to unify the group's 5,000 hotel brands on a single platform, simplifying payment management.

CHALLENGES

• Taking advantage of the performance of French industries: Stripe explains this strategic choice by the emergence of major industries in France, such as artificial intelligence. This revival of French companies seems to be enough to prompt the American company to invest fully in the country. Its aim is clearly to sign up France's biggest companies, and according to the press release, 50% of CAC40 companies are already Stripe customers.
• A further step towards French merchants: The integration of CB into Stripe's solutions is a real advantage, particularly in economic terms for merchants who are charged higher fees by Visa or Mastercard than by the Cartes Bancaires network.
• Relaunching after a turbulent period: In 2023, the payments giant was showing a declining valuation. In fact, the company's value fell to $50 billion, after a 2021 marked by the fintech's maximum valuation of $95 billion. Stripe has recovered, however, and was recently valued at nearly $65 billion. These announcements on the French market should contribute to the growth of the fintech's activities on the European market and thus confirm Stripe's good performance.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• The American giant took advantage of the Stripe Tour to unveil several new products in its various markets. This was also the case in London in May, where Stripe announced the launch of a Pay-by-Bank offering. A way for the company to capitalize on open-banking to offer alternative solutions to its customers.
• Since its arrival in France in 2016, Stripe claims to have supported over 100,000 businesses. A number that continues to grow with the arrival of several big names as previously mentioned.