Payments firm Stripe, set up in 2010 by Limerick brothers Patrick and John Collison, has revealed that it is to set up its first engineering hub outside of the United States in Dublin. The capital is already home to its European headquarters.
The company was valued at more than $9 billion in its latest funding round. CEO Patrick Collison and head of engineering David Singleton told Reuters the firm considered placing its first few dozen engineering jobs outside of the US in countries across Europe, but settled on Ireland because of its international approach and widening talent pool.
“Ireland has had ... a consistent approach of being outward looking and globally minded,” Collison said, adding that aligns with Stripe’s objectives as a company.
Collison said the lack of clarity around Britain’s future outside the European Union had weighed on Stripe’s choice. Dublin, alongside Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam, has been touted as a potential challenger to London as the European capital of financial technology after Brexit.
“This decision was certainly not made by Brexit, but certainly when we were evaluating all the different countries across Europe the uncertainty was a factor,” he said.
New engineering hub to sit within Dublin site
Stripe, which operates in 25 countries and has 1,000 employees globally, already has 100 people in Dublin, but so far all of its engineering teams have been placed in the US. Its headquarters are in San Francisco.
The new engineering hub will sit within its Dublin site, and the firm will hire a few dozen people to staff it in the coming years. They will focus on developing the firm’s core payments product.
Singleton said Stripe will invest over the long term in the Dublin hub, which it sees as more than just a “back office to Europe”.
“Dublin is our first engineering office outside of North America but over time I think Stripe will continue to become an increasingly global organisation,” added Collison.