Stripe, the payment company that’s quietly building the best way to pay people online, has today launched a major API update to its Connect API.
The new API builds on what the company learnt from modern “platform” companies such as Instacart, Shyp and Lyft, that employ many ‘sellers’ to get their work done.
Stripe Connect now makes it easier to onboard sellers (think Lyft drivers or Instacart shoppers) for their marketplace and now manages verification of their identity and ensuring they’re compliant with local tax laws.
It also makes it much easier to pay those sellers, no matter what country they’re in. Previously, supporting those in other countries meant all transactions needed to run through the US, but Connect offers a “local experience” for sellers in supported regions.
The timing of this announcement is interesting, considering Lyft is one of Stripe’s major users and just raised a sizable sum of money. Lyft may be mulling an international expansion and this support means it’s able to do it with ease.
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