Stripe Capital: What You Should Know

Private payment company Stripe Capital on Thursday announced it's taking a step into the lending business.

Stripe said the next stage of its growth phase will involve providing financing for online companies.

Stripe said its lending process will be quick and easy, and funds can be distributed to a user’s account by the next business day. Stripe said it will also expand smart financing services to its platform partners.

The lending program looks to address the more than 70% of businesses that say they do not have access to adequate funding after banks cut their small business lending by almost half over the past decade, according to Stripe. 

In addition, Stripe will look to significantly reduce the average of 25 hours businesses spend filling out loan paperwork and the weeks they spend waiting for approval.

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Stripe Chief Product Officer Will Gaybrick said small businesses and startups are critical to a healthy economy.

“It should be trivially simple and lightning fast for them to access the capital they need to smooth their cash flow and invest in their own growth,” Garbrick said in a statement.

Stripe’s unique approach to lending involves relying on internal payment data and advanced algorithms to determine creditworthiness — rather than a borrower’s FICO credit score.

Paypal Holdings Inc PYPL and Square Inc SQ will be watching the new Stripe lending program closely after both payment leaders reported upticks in lending in recent quarters.

Investors will also be watching for rumors of a potential Stripe IPO down the line after the company’s last funding round valued it at more than $22 billion.

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Photo courtesy of Stripe.