Stripe Enters a Data Deal With Federal Express – Digital Transactions
Federal Express said Stripe will work with FedEx Dataworks to incorporate signals from FedEx’s network into Stripe’s platform in support of financing for small and medium-size businesses. FedEx has also agreed to offer Stripe as a payments-processing option. FedEx Datworks is the shipping company’s predictive-analytics service based on shipment data.
The planned financing venture, expected to launch early next year, will be geared to appeal to a market of “tens of thousands” of companies, FedEx says, while the Stripe connection means FedEx will be able to offer shippers more than 50 additional payment methods. The company did not specify the new methods. It accepts cards and PayPal in its regular course of business
The new venture with Stripe, which the parties view as a long-term deal, comes as small and medium-size businesses face hurdles in securing funding, with banks and finance companies eyeing bank statements rather than relying on shipment history, according to FedEx. The shipper collects data from its movement of goods totaling more than $2 trillion daily in value, it says. Stripe says it currently processes more than $1.9 trillion in annualized payment volume across its total client base.
Now, the new link with Stripe “is an important step in laying the foundation for future innovations across the global economy,” says Vishal Talwar, executive vice president and chief digital and information officer at FedEx, in a statement.
Stripe has shown an appetite in recent months for collecting data through collaborative agreements. In July it announced a deal with the payments-data provider TSG to gather statistics that could help independent software vendors and software-as-a-service providers.
In late August, Stripe walked away from its effort to acquire payments giant PayPal in a deal valued at more than $53 billion. Stripe worked with private-equity firm Advent International in making the offer, which was rejected by PayPal’s board.
