Stripe Startups is a by-application program to help venture-backed startups that are just getting started. It gives founders of early-stage, venture-backed startups access to financial benefits in the form of waived processing fees or fee credits (depending on the country), a focused community of other builders and Stripe leaders, and expert resources.
Stripe Startups is designed for early-stage, venture-backed companies. In order to qualify, your application must include proof of institutional funding. You may provide any of the following to verify funding: link to PitchBook (or similar) naming your investors, links to articles featuring funding announcements (e.g., TechCrunch articles, VC websites), other documentation verifying your company’s funding status.
If you meet the qualifying criteria for Stripe Startups but have received a prior fee offer, your application to Stripe Startups may be approved even though you may no longer be eligible for further offers.
If you meet the requirements, you can apply.
There are two ways to apply:
Whichever method you use to apply, you must:
We’ll review it and respond within 2–3 business days
Once you’ve submitted your application:
If you don’t hear back within the expected timeframe, contact Stripe Support.
Depending on what country you are in, you may either be eligible for product fee credits or for waived processing fees. Fee credits are replacing waived processing fees over time. Find your region below to see which offer is available to you.
Type of offer |
What it is |
Countries where available |
What it means |
Are there fees where the offer does not work? |
Fee credits |
Credits offset Stripe fees for more products—not just payment processing. They can be used for Stripe fees on products like Payments, Connect, Billing, Tax, and Sigma. |
USA
Rolling out to more countries over time |
Offer amount = what you get to use on Stripe |
Yes, fee credits do not apply to the following products:
|
Waived payment processing fees |
“Waived processing fees” mean that Stripe won’t charge you payment processing fees, up to a threshold approved for your account. These apply only to payment processing fees for cards and local payment methods, including buy now, pay later and ACH. |
Outside of the United States |
Offer amount = the payment processing volume that won’t incur fees |
Yes, waived processing fees do not cover some fees, including but not limited to:
|
You’re eligible if all of these are true:
Offer amounts vary by offer type (i.e., in the form of fee credits or in the form of waived processing fees on a certain payment volume) and, if applicable, by your referral source. Stripe has standing partnerships with some investors to whom we offer elevated benefits. Venture capital firms and startup accelerators can apply for Stripe benefits for their portfolio companies here.
The offer expires 12 months from when you activate your offer or until you reach your offer limit—whichever comes first.
Yes. You have 12 months to activate your offer. The 12-month period to use your offer starts only after you activate it. Activate it when you’re ready to process payments.
Log in as an admin or owner. Look for the banner or setup guide task in your Dashboard to accept the offer.
If you don’t see your offer, make sure that your account is active and that there are no outstanding verification banners. You can also check the Fee Credits section under Reports, or Fee Discounts section under Reports—though, this section will only appear if you have completed your Business Profile.
Check your remaining balance in the Fee Credits section under Reports in your Dashboard. Fee Credits show how much of your offer you’ve used so far.
Check your remaining balance in the Fee Discounts section under Balances in your Dashboard. Fee Discounts show how much of your offer you’ve used so far.
If you manage multiple accounts with offers, each account’s balance is tracked separately in their respective Dashboards.
Offers apply to individual accounts, not all accounts tied to one email. Make sure you’re logged in to the correct account when applying.
Don’t know which account you are logged into?
Can I apply an offer to multiple accounts or startups?
A startup can only redeem one offer in its lifetime, even if you have multiple Stripe accounts (e.g., one in Mexico and one in the US). The offer applies to one account, so you’ll have to decide which one to use it on. Though, if you manage multiple eligible startups, each one that is affiliated with a Stripe referral partner can receive its own offer, even if you are the founder of or are associated with all of them.
No, the offer only starts after offer activation. Be sure to activate it only when you’re ready to process payments.
First, only fee credit offers are eligible to use on Connect (waived processing fee offers may not be used on Stripe product fees).
Second, it depends on how you’re using Stripe Connect. You can select different Connect configurations that allow you to identify who is responsible for collecting payment fees, who is responsible for negative balances, and what kind of dashboard experience you want for your connected accounts. The application of this offer differs based on who pays Stripe fees (controller.fees.payer) in your Connect integration.
Yes. The offer will convert to the currency of your default bank account, so you can still use it even if your customers pay in a different currency. That said, if you have more than one bank account with different settlement currencies (e.g., one for EUR, another for USD), the offer will only apply to payouts sent to the account in your default currency (e.g., EUR if that was the default). For details on supported currencies, head here.
Keep in mind that the offer doesn’t cover currency exchange fees (e.g., converting USD to EUR).
Yes, you will receive the offer in your default bank account currency. But, it will not appear in your currency until it has been activated.
You’ll still see a fee listed on each charge, but they’ll be combined and credited back to you as an adjustment. That happens when we calculate the total for each payout.
Here’s where you can find the details:
These two programs can be stacked. That is, you may be enrolled in both and obtain offers through each program. You can learn more about the Atlas program here.
If the banner isn’t there:
If your offer isn’t working as expected, double-check your activation status:
The offer processes when payouts are calculated, not immediately after transactions. You’ll still see fees listed on each charge, but they’ll be combined and credited back to your account as an adjustment in your payout total.
Your account needs to be fully verified to use the offer. Check your Stripe Dashboard for any pending steps.
Contact them directly and ask for the link. Venture capital firms and startup accelerators can apply for Stripe benefits for their portfolio companies at https://stripe.com/startups/partners.
You can also apply to Stripe Startups directly at stripe.com/startups.
If your business processes over $100,000 in monthly payments for 3 consecutive months, you can request a pricing review. Otherwise, standard fees will apply.
Need more help? Contact sales directly here.
Stripe evaluates your payment volume, card mix, and other factors to determine if you qualify for custom pricing. Note that not all Stripe users who receive a pricing review qualify for custom pricing.
No, the offer starts once you activate it and can’t be paused. If you’re not ready to start processing payments, it’s a good idea to wait before activating it.
We don’t send reminders for expiring offers right now, but you can track your remaining balance in the Fee Credits section of your Dashboard.
Unfortunately, we can only extend one offer per startup. If your case is unique, feel free to contact us.
Stripe’s developer documentation and the Stripe Developers channel on Discord are great resources, in addition to Stripe support, where you can search our support site or connect with our support team.