United States (US)-based payments company Stripe has partnered with a host of African incubators to allow startups from the continent more easily incorporate in the US through its Atlas programme.
Stripe chief executive officer (CEO) Patrick Collison announced the launch of Atlas last week at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Barcelona, Spain.
The programme allows entrepreneurs from across the world to easily incorporate a US company, set up a bank account, and start accepting payments with Stripe.
“The promise of the internet is that location matters less,” the company said. “However, geographic barriers and associated complexity make it difficult to start a global business in many parts of the world.”
Stripe said it believed developers around the world should have equal access to the tools and services that are available to those in Berlin and Boston, a goal Atlas has been designed to further.
With Atlas, entrepreneurs can incorporate a US Delaware company in just a couple of days, as well as open a business bank account with Silicon Valley Bank. A Stripe account will also be set up, allowing startups to start accepting payments from customers in more than 100 currencies, while Atlas entrepreneurs will have access to guidance on US law and taxes from tech law firm Orrick and global accounting company PwC.
Atlas is invite-only to start, and Stripe said it would be scaling it to as many companies as possible as quickly as we can. Interested entrepreneurs can apply directly or get a referral from one of Stripe’s partners, which in Africa are Egypt’s Flat6Labs, South Africa’s Knife Capital, Nigeria’s L5Lab, iSpace and MEST in Ghana, Nailab and Savannah Fund in Kenya, and Uganda’s Outbox.
“We’re working with more than sixty accelerators, investors, and partners from around the world to get Atlas in the hands of promising startups,” Stripe said.
“In addition, we’re working with some selected companies to make it easier for Atlas startups to take advantage of services: for example, AWS will extend US$15,000 in free credits.”
