Stripe builds infrastructure to power global expansion

Payments giant helps businesses scale AI and tap new markets.

Stripe is doubling down on building financial infrastructure to help companies in Asia and beyond manage cross-border payments, expand into new markets, and support the next wave of AI-native startups.

“Businesses in Asia are incredibly ambitious, especially now, where global trade can be quite volatile. We are helping ambitious businesses in this region not only navigate some of these uncertainties, but to drive growth and operational efficiency,” said Sarita Singh, Regional Head and Managing Director, Southeast Asia, India & Greater China at Stripe.

Singh explained that Stripe’s approach can be summed up as “money in, money around, and money out.” This framework spans accepting payments, managing funds across borders, and paying third parties—all critical to global operations.

“The solutions that we offer around that particular life cycle with a merchant really speaks to payments, billing, revenue recognition, what we call revenue and finance and information and tax, and those components are really the fundamentals to cross-border business,” Singh said.

But the challenges for companies go beyond payments. Singh noted that global expansion also demands tax compliance, regulatory adherence, and localisation. “All of that is taken care of when they're working on the Stripe platform,” she said.

Singh emphasised that international growth is as much about innovation as it is about scale. “As we help companies grow internationally, they're able to access new segments, new customers, new markets. What it also allows is these adaptations for the business… and when you're forced to adapt, that's when innovation comes,” she said.

Stripe is also betting on stablecoins and AI to reshape cross-border payments and operations. Stablecoins, Singh said, offer “speed, cost and efficiency” and can democratise access to international transactions. Meanwhile, Stripe is positioning itself as a key partner to AI-native startups.

“By definition, all of these AI companies want to be global from day one. They're not thinking domestically,” Singh said. “We offer them the financial infrastructure to be able to do that globally.”