Stripe Now in Singapore! Hong Kong Next?

Stripe has just updated their global page to now show Singapore as a supported country. Its currently in private beta.

I’m regularly asked about Stripe coming in Hong Kong, and have been following closely – so let’s see what this means.

This summer, at the end of July 2015, there was one of the biggest and best startup events in Asia – called Rise Conference. One of the speakers was John Collison from Stripe discussing with Financial Times Hannah Kuchler.

Of course, if you’re speaking in a region where you’re currently not supported, you gotta mention your plans for Asia. He mentioned that they were seriously looking at Asia and aiming for end of year.

That conference was in Hong Kong.

They launched this private beta in Singapore within the last day or so. Today is when I first heard about it (November 9, 2015).

My friend Damian Thompson from Salesability posted in Dynamite Circle that:

Damian Thompson posted a status:

“Stripe in Singapore! Just got invited to beta.”

7 hours ago

I have to think Hong Kong is not far behind. Braintree launched in Asia – and seemed to support both Singapore and Hong Kong at the same time. But even Braintree’s offices are in Singapore, not in Hong Kong.

Seems these US merchant account companies are picking Singapore over Hong Kong as their main market.

So as soon as my friend got a private invite to Stripe in Singapore, I dug into the search. Of course I was hoping Hong Kong would also be on the global site, but currently not showing up there.

In my research, I saw Tech In Asia hear rumors that Stripe was looking at Singapore. The article is in August. So it took a few months from that article to become true.

Let’s see if Hong Kong is close behind.

I normally spend more time writing up epic guide posts, today’s is more of a “hot off the press” article. I’ll update everyone as I hear more, and send this article to my contacts who can hopefully get through to Stripe.

I am willing to be in the next month or so we’ll have access to Stripe in Hong Kong. Maybe it will be a slower process, but policies and business practices in Hong Kong and Singapore are pretty close (putting out a podcast comparing the 2 later today!) – and normally if something happens in one, it will be mirrored in the other.

Yes, those with Hong Kong companies right now are like, man! But let’s all be a little bit more patient, it has to be coming very shortly.

Since I have been doing this Global From Asia podcast and blog, there have been more and more merchant account options for Hong Kong.

In the merchant account comparison page, I have added a few. The big one is Braintree payments. They came in April 2015, and a few people have applied and gotten approved. We did a podcast with David Hehenberger and he is a happy user of Braintree.

And from my friends in USA, some prefer Braintree over Stripe. There have been reports on Hacker News that Stripe will shut you down quickly and without notice. So my friends have also been warning others about this risk.

He won’t agree to disclose himself, but he said “now put urself in my shoes.
when stripe shut me down at around 21,000 monthly recurring revenue and no prior notice.”

I also have startup friends in Hong Kong working on a local solution for a payment gateway, Tofu Pay. I am sure they may not be happy that Stripe is in Hong Kong – but for the rest of the business community, it is definitely a positive.

So what are your thoughts? I’d love to get some comments and discussion in the comments below. Our Stripe Hong Kong podcast post has a lot of activity – and with today’s news of Stripe in Singapore, do you think this is a positive or negative for Hong Kong?

I’m voting for big positive. Of course I’m disappointed Singapore was first, but it is just a matter of time. And I am betting it will be before New Years 2016!

Anyone want to make some friendly bets?

Good luck to all!