Stripe Launches its Online Payments Tech in the U.K.

Stripe, a technology company that helps other companies accept payments online, is formally launching its British service.

“We’re continuing to work on bringing Stripe to more businesses worldwide,” Andy Young, who’s helping Stripe expand in the U.K., wrote in an Aug. 15 post to the company’s blog. “We’ve opened an engineering office here in London---our best is that global presence will make Stripe better for everyone.”

Stripe has been testing in the U.K. for a few months with companies such as Teddle, a cleaning company; Virgin Pure, a water purification company; Steer, a website development teaching company; and Thread, a personal stylist.

U.K. pricing starts at 2.4% and about 31 cents per transaction + VAT (a British payments tax), Young wrote. Volume pricing is available for businesses at scale. In the U.S., Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction.

Stripe has also built multi-currency support — U.K. businesses can charge customers in U.S. dollars, British pounds and euros. “We’ll automatically handle all the conversions for you and deposit daily into your bank account,” Young wrote.

Stripe faces competition in the U.K. from companies such as Paymill, GoCardless and Braintree.