Stripe, GrabPay tie-up gives options for SEA businesses

• Partnership lets businesses offer GrabPay as online payment option
• Carousell saw 20% increase in online transactions with GrabPay integration

PAYMENTS platform Stripe has announced a partnership with GrabPay, which the company said will enable businesses across Southeast Asia – starting in Singapore and Malaysia – to offer GrabPay as an online payment method.

In a statment, Stripe said the partnership enables businesses to GrabPay alongside card payments and other popular local payment methods within one integration.

GrabPay works with both Stripe Checkout and application programming interface (API) integration, allowing merchants to support payments in both Singapore dollar and Malaysian ringgit currencies.

Krishnan Rajagopalan, head of partnerships for Stripe in Asia Pacific said: “Stripe and GrabPay share the goal of making online commerce as frictionless and convenient as possible, so that ambitious companies in Southeast Asia (SEA) can grow their business.

“This partnership is a very important milestone for Stripe in Southeast Asia - enabling GrabPay as a payment method on Stripe further adds to our Global Payments and Treasury Network, a programmable infrastructure for global money movement.”

The collaboration has already seen some successes, as classified marketplace platforms reported increase in online transactions of nearly 20% since October 2020 after making GrabPay available as a payment method via Stripe in Malaysia, Stripe claimed.

Online e-marketplace and classified site Carousell saw a “significant growth” in sales from younger demographics via GrabPay - through items such as apparel (like clothes and sneakers) as well as lifestyle technology products (video games, accessories and gadgets).

Other key sales drivers, according to Carousell, include the ability for consumers to earn GrabRewards points through GrabPay purchases, pay with points to stretch the value of their earned points by using it as a form of currency, and increased mobile conversions through seasonal GrabPay marketing campaigns.

“As an additional payment method on Carousell, our users will have more simplified digital payment options and an enhanced shopping experience with us,” said Lakshay Kalra, product lead for payments and shipping at Carousell.

“We see promising results by enabling GrabPay on our platform. We believe that this partnership will make selling and buying much more efficient for our users.”

Chris Yeo, managing director and head of GrabPay, Grab Financial Group, said: “Our partnership with Stripe represents another milestone in our journey to build an e-wallet that can pay for the widest range of everyday needs in Southeast Asia in a safe, convenient and rewarding manner.”

He added that with e-commerce’s increased popularity gaining in the region, Grab believe Stripe’s expertise and technology can help GrabPay delivery an enhanced payments for Southeast Asia.

“This partnership also builds on our ongoing efforts to help businesses grow online in an increasingly digitally reliant world,” he said.