Stripe Connects with Alipay to Support Consumer Payments in China

Stripe is partnering with China's Alipay online payments service to streamline checkout for consumers in China who make purchases from Stripe's merchant clients.

Stripe, which provides an interface for merchants to accept payments, is recruiting businesses for a beta program with Alipay, part of Stripe's ongoing strategy to enter international markets. Alipay has more than 550 million registered users who make 8.5 million payments each day.

The partnership will leverage Stripe Checkout, a feature that allows payments via Web and mobile apps and is designed to bridge multiple payment instruments and currencies. Alipay will join the mix of payment methods Stripe accepts, including debit, credit and Bitcoin.

A business using stripe will be able to instantly enable Alipay acceptance, Stripe says on its website. Chinese consumers were able to pay for items outside the country, but needed to get a dual-currency international credit card, which is not very common, Stripe says.

Stripe did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Alipay partnership, which will maintain Stripe's regular fee structure, is not available for businesses inside China, though Stripe hopes to add Chinese merchants in the future.

Alibaba Group founded Alipay in December 2004. The payments unit was spun off into a separate entity in 2009, with Alibaba maintaining an affiliate relationship with the business.