Stripe’s recent acquisitions highlight a broader industry move toward a hybrid payment infrastructure.
Stripe has acquired Orum, a US-based payments orchestration platform, for an undisclosed sum.
Announced by Orum on July 18, the acquisition is expected to strengthen Stripe’s domestic real-time payments capabilities, giving it deeper access to US money movement rails like RTP, ACH, Wires and Visa Direct.
Launched in 2019, Orum has secured $82m in funding from backers such as Accel, Canapi Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures and American Express Ventures. The company built its platform to simplify a complex and compliance-heavy process for enabling instant payments in the US.
As part of the deal, Orum’s founder and CEO, Stephany Kirkpatrick, will join Stripe’s leadership team. A former Certified Financial Planner, Kirkpatrick was motivated to build Orum by issues she saw in US payments, particularly the long delays in transferring money between institutions.
She noted in many cases, it still takes more than four days for funds to move from one financial institution to another, which she says disproportionately hurts businesses during periods of inflation, high interest rates, or economic uncertainty.
Her interest in solving this problem was also personal. Kirkpatrick, the daughter of an immigrant small business owner, recalls growing up working alongside her father and witnessing firsthand the financial friction caused by slow payments.
“Over the past six years, our incredible team at Orum has built innovative solutions that transform payment technology for businesses – revolutionising payment speed, certainty, and orchestration. Businesses and consumers should not have to think about how their money moves from point A to point B – they should just know that it will happen with speed and certainty,” she said.
“After thoughtful consideration, it became clear that we have a rare opportunity to accelerate Orum’s mission and greatly increase our impact by becoming part of Stripe, which processed more than $1.4 trillion in total payment volume in 2024 — the equivalent of 1.3% of global GDP.”
A flurry of acquisitions
The Orum acquisition follows a busy period for Stripe, which has made several moves to expand its capabilities in both traditional and digital payments infrastructure.
Just last month, Stripe acquired Privy, a crypto wallet infrastructure provider, as part of its growing push into digital assets. Announced on June 11, the deal brings Privy’s wallet connectivity platform under Stripe’s financial services umbrella. While Privy will continue to operate independently, it will now benefit from deeper integration with Stripe’s ecosystem.
Founded in 2022, Privy offers a single API that enables businesses to connect seamlessly with crypto wallets and blockchain systems.
With more than 75 million accounts and over 1,000 developer teams using its infrastructure, Privy is already processing billions in crypto transactions. Its capabilities are expected to enhance Stripe’s crypto offerings.
Earlier, in October 2024, Stripe also made headlines with its $1.1bn acquisition of Bridge, a stablecoin-focused platform, which supported Stripe’s entry into blockchain-native financial services.
Bridge played a key role in powering the launch of Stripe’s stablecoin accounts, which currently support both USDC and Bridge’s proprietary USDB.
What’s Stripe’s strategy?
Stripe’s recent acquisitions indicate a strategic shift in the company’s approach to its role. More than just expanding its payment stack, Stripe is building a unified layer for money movement across both traditional and digital rails.
Orum brings Stripe instant access to US bank payment systems without the need for direct bank integrations. This is a significant upgrade for Stripe’s ability to support use cases like real-time payouts and lending.
However, the broader picture becomes even clearer when you add in the stablecoin infrastructure from Bridge and the wallet connectivity of Privy. These acquisitions allow Stripe to cover all bases, whether funds are moving via fiat rails, blockchain networks or something in between.
These agreements don’t just reveal where Stripe is headed, but reflect a wider shift across the payments landscape.
The sector is moving toward a hybrid model, where fiat systems and digital assets coexist, as noted by Peter Heneghan, Principal at Bettor Capital, in an interview with Payment Expert earlier this week.
