Payments company Stripe unveiled a new service that is designed to make setting up a company in the US easier.
Cofounder and chief executive Patrick Collison demonstrated the service on stage during a keynote at Mobile World Congress, explaining how it would help streamline the process.
The service, which is available to entrepreneurs around the world, will cost $500. The fee will cover the cost of incorporating in the US, setting up a bank account and registering with IRS. It will also offer tax and legal advice to entrepreneurs, and allow companies to take Stripe payments.
Eligible entrepreneurs will receive free credit to run their online business on the Amazon Web Services hosting platform.
Atlas is to begin on Wednesday in an invitation-only beta test; entrepreneurs can apply for the programme through Stripe or one of the 50-plus start-up accelerator programmes that the company has teamed up with globally.
It seems like a fine deal for fledgling entrepreneurs, and considering the cumulative value of the services offered, it essentially is. It is also potentially lucrative for Stripe, which processes digital payments for small and medium-size online businesses. More businesses using Stripe means an increase in payments processed over all. Stripe takes a small percentage of each transaction processed.
The move could drive further adoption of Stripe’s services, with the company already handling billions of payments a year and working with firms such as Twitter, Pinterest and Kickstarter. Indeed most of the US presidential candidates are accepting donations through Stripe, a testimony to how ingrained it has become in the US online payments space.
Atlas is initially an invite-only beta programme, with applications taken through Stripe or via an Atlas customer referral, but the company is planning to roll it out to a wider basis as soon as possible.
The idea for the service came after the company noticed users were setting up operations in the US and Europe to take Stripe payments.
Earlier this year it emerged the mobile payments business founded by those Collison brothers from Limerick, has signed a lease on the 45,000 sq ft One Building on Dublin's docklands.
Stripe, which was valued at $5 billion in a recent fundraising, may use only part of the building initially, according to a reports.
The move should eventually translate into good news on the Dublin job front.
