Stripe Payments International, the Ireland-based EMEA and APAC subsidiary of payment processing giant Stripe, has published strong results for FY 2025, seeing record pre-tax profit despite an increase in costs and declining interest income.
In its full-year 2025 results, Stripe Payments International reported strong revenue growth and record pre-tax profit, with these financials providing our best look into its parent company’s performance.
Stripe remains a privately held company and has shared no concrete plans to enter the public markets. However, its Dublin-headquartered subsidiary Stripe Payments International – which oversees all of its activities spanning Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) – is required to publish annual results in line with Irish law.
Stripe does not share what percentage of overall revenue comes from its international arm, although estimates suggest that the subsidiary has historically accounted for around a quarter of the group’s overall number of employees. In 2025, Stripe also reportedly stated it expected to grow the headcount of its overall group to around 10,000 by the end of 2025 in an internal memo to staff. If it met this target, this would currently put Stripe International’s share at over 28%.
Here, we look into Stripe International’s financials to identify the drivers behind strong profit growth and unpack the key strategic moves the company is making.
Stripe International reports record profits in FY 2025
In FY 2025, Stripe International reported a 33% YoY increase in overall revenue to $6.8bn, up from $5.1bn in FY 2024 and a record to date.
The company also reported pre-tax profit for a second year running, seeing this metric grow 337% YoY to $446m. This signals a significant improvement since 2023, when Stripe International reported a $1.2bn loss, although one-off employee share payment costs were a key driver behind that.
Chart data
| Year | Revenue | Pre-tax profit/loss |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $0.5bn | $0.0bn |
| 2019 | $0.8bn | $0.0bn |
| 2020 | $1.4bn | -$0.1bn |
| 2021 | $2.3bn | $0.0bn |
| 2022 | $2.9bn | -$0.2bn |
| 2023 | $3.8bn | -$1.2bn |
| 2024 | $5.1bn | $0.1bn |
| 2025 | $6.8bn | $0.4bn |
While Stripe International does not publish volume, Stripe’s annual letter, published in February, showed a 34% YoY rise in total payment volume (TPV) to $1.9tn for the overall company, with Stripe citing this as a key contributor to remaining “robustly profitable” in 2025. It is possible that Stripe International has seen similar growth in TPV, and it is notable that its revenue rate is very similar to its parent’s TPV growth rate, at 33%.
Stripe International’s profit came despite a drop in the contribution of interest income to its overall revenue. In 2024, the company saw interest income reach $201m, accounting for 4% of revenue. Of this, $144m was operating interest income – interest income earned on Stripe’s core business operations – with the majority of this from bank interest income, mostly earned from customer reserves.
However, in 2025, Stripe International saw its total interest income fall 7% to $187m – accounting for 3% of revenue – with the fall largely driven by a 16% YoY decline in bank interest income. The fact that profits rose significantly in spite of this decline shows the strength of the business’ core operations, a driver that proved particularly important as bank rates fell.
Chart data
| Year | Operating | Non-operating |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $12.6m | $5.6m |
| 2023 | $97.9m | $40.2m |
| 2024 | $144.2m | $56.6m |
| 2025 | $126.4m | $60.6m |
| 2025 YoY change | (-12%) | 7% |
Stripe invests in EMEA and APAC employee expansion
Some of these costs also rose as Stripe invested in the business, including hiring new staff and increasing its headcount. Compared to 2024, the company saw its total number of employees grow by 29% to 2,854 for the year.
This increase was driven by a 60% rise in the number of engineering staff it employs as it added more than 300 new staff in these types of roles. Administration saw similar levels of growth, increasing 47% YoY as Stripe International added 250 new administration roles. Sales and user operations saw smaller increases, rising 12% and 4% respectively.
This investment caused a slight shift in the company’s employee mix, as engineering rose to 28%, having remained largely flat between 2023 and 2024. Administration also saw a significant increase for the second year in a row, climbing to 27%. Lesser investment in sales and user operations saw their share of employees drop to 24% and 20% respectively, down from 28% and 25%.
Chart data
| Year | Engineering | Administration | Sales | User Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 11.3% | 31.8% | 33.3% | 23.59% |
| 2019 | 25.8% | 37.0% | 23.0% | 14.25% |
| 2020 | 24.8% | 36.6% | 24.3% | 14.41% |
| 2021 | 21.8% | 34.3% | 31.3% | 12.69% |
| 2022 | 31.5% | 21.2% | 30.5% | 16.81% |
| 2023 | 28.3% | 18.9% | 27.8% | 25.04% |
| 2024 | 23.0% | 24.2% | 28.3% | 24.5% |
| 2025 | 28.4% | 27.5% | 24.4% | 19.66% |
| 2025 YoY share change | 5% | 3% | (-4%) | (-5%) |
Stripe International also shares information about its staff costs, showing us how its employees and their wages contribute to its overall expenses. Following the 29% increase in headcount, wages and salaries increased 35% YoY, surpassing $400m in 2025. Share-based payments declined for a second year, by 8% YoY to $150m.
Despite an increase in headcount and wages, the company saw the average staff cost per employee decrease by 7%, indicating improved cost efficiency across the company. Stripe International did see its wages and salaries per employee increase however, rising 4% YoY – likely due to an increase in engineering staff, which typically cost more than other staff types.
Chart data
| Year | Wages and salaries | Share-based payment | Social insurance costs | Defined contribution plan expense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $23.8m | $2.1m | $3.5m | $0.0m |
| 2019 | $50.3m | $1.4m | $5.7m | $0.0m |
| 2020 | $78.9m | $0.8m | $11.0m | $0.0m |
| 2021 | $143.3m | $2.0m | $15.9m | $3.7m |
| 2022 | $250.0m | $12.9m | $24.2m | $7.9m |
| 2023 | $270.8m | $323.5m | $34.5m | $8.4m |
| 2024 | $299.8m | $161.6m | $33.6m | $8.3m |
| 2025 | $404.7m | $149.5m | $42.0m | $11.7m |
| 2025 YoY share change | 35% | (-7%) | 25% | 41% |
What drove a rise in Stripe’s overall costs in 2025?
Stripe International also saw a jump in overall costs compared to FY 2024, rising 25% YoY to $6.5bn. This was largely driven by a 26% increase in cost of sales to $5.3bn, which was reportedly caused by an increase in processing fees. Administrative expenses also increased 21% YoY to $1.2bn, having declined by 14% in 2024.
Cost of sales accounted for 81% of all costs in 2025, while administrative expenses accounted for 19%. In its financial report, the company explained that these costs increased due to growth in business from existing users, alongside an increase in user adoption in existing markets.
Chart data
| Year | Cost of sales | Administrative expenses | Interest expense |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $0.5bn | $0.1bn | $0.0bn |
| 2019 | $0.7bn | $0.2bn | $0.0bn |
| 2020 | $1.2bn | $0.3bn | $0.0bn |
| 2021 | $1.8bn | $0.5bn | $0.0bn |
| 2022 | $2.3bn | $0.7bn | $0.0bn |
| 2023 | $4.0bn | $1.2bn | $0.0bn |
| 2024 | $4.2bn | $1.0bn | $0.0bn |
| 2025 | $5.3bn | $1.2bn | $0.0bn |
| 2025 YoY change | 26% | 21% | (-9%) |
Crucially, Stripe saw revenue grow more quickly (33%) than rising total costs (25%), even as it increased spending on employees. Although it does not share information regarding the volumes it processes, Stripe International saw merchant settlement assets – funds that Stripe collects but has not yet paid out to merchant bank accounts – rise 33% to $9.2bn, in line with revenue growth and suggesting strong payment volume growth. This growth rate also closely aligns with the 34% rise in total volume that the overall group saw in 2025.
This suggests that Stripe is increasingly seeing revenue increase directly from its core business, reducing reliance on interest income to turn a profit.
