Stripe Shows Its Creator Chops; Snap Warning Sends Chill

Stripe may be best known as a payments tool for tech startups, but it wants the world to know it’s big with creators, too. The San Francisco company on Thursday published a ream of data showing how its payment processing services enable creators to earn money from features like Twitter’s Super Follows, where creators can charge for bonus tweets, tipping on live audio app Clubhouse and paid newsletter subscriptions on Substack.

All told, Stripe will soon have handled more than $10 billion in payments for creators, it said. Of a selection of 50 Stripe customers that work with creators, these companies have brought on 668,000 creators this year, up 48% year-over-year. The biggest category by revenue was education, which includes online course providers such as Teachable. (Read more about the rise of influencer-led courses here). 

The blog post is the second reminder in as many days that financial institutions—including the tech companies revamping how people shop online—are keenly aware of the revenue opportunities creators present. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Stripe rival PayPal is in late-stage talks to buy Pinterest, in a deal that could value it at $45 billion and give PayPal a big leg up into social commerce and the creator economy. Your turn, Visa and Mastercard. 

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