Stripe passed the milestone of $1 trillion in total payment volume processed

Stripe enterprise segment continues to grow rapidly, with more than 100 companies now processing more than $1 billion per year with Stripe

Collectively, the businesses running on Stripe passed the milestone of $1 trillion in total payment volume
in 2023, up 25% from the prior year, according to the company’s 2023 annual letter. US e-commerce, an imperfect but useful comparison, grew 7.6% last year. At $1 trillion, the output of businesses that run on Stripe sums to roughly 1% of global GDP. Most Stripe users sell so-called “final” goods, which are those that count toward GDP.

During Black Friday / Cyber Monday 2023 (BFCM), the highest-load part of any year, Stripe maintained uptime in excess of 99.999% while processing more than 300 million transactions. Total BFCM volume was $18.6 billion – „our largest four-day period to date” – and more than 31,000 businesses had their best day ever on Stripe.

Startup formation continues despite shrinking VC dollars
Although VC funding in 2023 hit its lowest levels since 2018, we’ve actually seen record startup formation across Stripe. (Besides the US, the biggest increases have come from the Netherlands, Sweden, and Canada.)

Perhaps as a result of the tighter funding environment, entrepreneurs are focusing on monetizing faster and enabling profitable growth as soon as possible. „Startups founded in 2022, the most recent year where we have a full year of analyzable data, are 60% more likely to start collecting revenue within their first year, and 57% more likely to process $1 million within their first year, than those founded in 2019.” – the company says.

In 2023, the influx of AI companies onto Stripe grew even larger. Twice as many AI companies went live on Stripe compared to 2022, including new trailblazers like Perplexity and Mistral. They join leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Midjourney, which continue to expand their offerings and launch new products with Stripe.

„Aggregate revenue from AI companies grew by 249% in 2023, and, of course, AI was a major tailwind for countless companies across Stripe that do not self-identify as “AI companies” per se. While headlines inevitably index on the most legible figures, such as declining venture dollars, our net assessment is that the startup ecosystem is more vibrant than ever before.” the company concludes.