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Data is the fuel for growth in the payments business, no less than in any other industry. Payments companies focused on faster growth thirst for numbers. To serve that market, Stripe Inc. early Monday announced a collaboration with TSG, a payments-data provider, in a move aimed at helping processors, software developers, and investors extract faster growth out of their payments operations.
The new initiative is particularly focused on helping independent software vendors and software-as-a-service providers, recognizing the increasing sophistication of software and the companies that leverage it in payments. “Through this partnership, TSG and Stripe will apply data, strategy, and execution to help organizations unlock the full value of payments,” the companies said in a joint announcement of the link between them.
The news of the link between the companies comes as Stripe earlier this month made an offer valued at more than $53 billion to acquire PayPal. In the deal, Stripe is working with Advent International, a global private-equity firm, as the two companies propose to hold equal stakes in PayPal.
The goals of the Stripe-TSG partnership, according to the two partners, are to help companies develop pricing strategy; cut back on friction arising from such issues as compliance, onboarding, and activation; widen clients’ margins; and shorten the time it takes to realize results.
“The collaboration evolved organically through ongoing discussions around the changing needs of software platforms, fintechs, merchants, and investors,” Jared Drieling, chief innovation officer at TSG, tells DIgital Transactions News. “Both organizations recognized that companies increasingly need more than payment processing technology—they are looking for industry expertise, benchmarking, strategic guidance, and execution support to maximize the value of payments within their businesses.”
Overall, the collaboration hopes to improve clients’ prospects for growth. “Payments is no longer just infrastructure, it’s a growth engine,” says Mike Strawhecker, TSG’s president and chief executive, in a statement. “Together, we can help organizations treat payments as a disciplined growth lever, not an afterthought.”
The collaboration will help bolster Stripe’s role as a leading provider of payments innovation but will also sharpen the industry’s focus on the data required by payments operators, the parties say. TSG’s client portfolio encompasses more than 1,000 clients, the firm says.
The news comes as Stripe looks to consolidate its position in payments with moves such as its offer for PayPal. In particular, the company has buttressed its stake in stablecoin-based transaction processing with its $1.1-billion deal for the processor Bridge, which closed in February last year.
