We hit the road from Swindon to London on 28 May 2025 for Stripe Tour London 2025, and what a day it was! As a web agency that builds ecommerce websites and online stores, we have a keen interest in anything that can improve secure payments for businesses.
Stripe is our preferred payment gateway for online store projects – it’s the backbone that helps us ensure secure payments for business transactions. So when Stripe announced its global roadshow was stopping at ExCeL London, we knew we had to be there. This is our recap of the journey down the M4, the exciting new Stripe features we learned about, and why it was well worth the long drive.
The Drive Down the M4: Worth the Early Start
Leaving Swindon bright and early, we took the trusty M4 motorway eastbound towards London. If you’ve ever driven that stretch, you know it can be a bit of a slog – but armed with coffees and a good playlist, our team was ready for an adventure. We arrived at ExCeL London, the massive exhibition center in East London hosting Stripe Tour 2025. The event was buzzing – around 1,700 founders, developers, and business leaders had gathered.
Once we checked in and found our seats, we were greeted by the sight of Stripe’s cofounder John Collison on stage. It hit us that this wasn’t just a casual meetup; it was essentially an internet economy conference, with Stripe showcasing the latest and greatest in online payment technology. For a company like us that lives and breathes ecommerce, this felt a bit like a kid walking into a candy store.🎉
Stripe Tour London 2025: Key Announcements for Ecommerce and your online store
Stripe didn’t disappoint – they rolled out a series of announcements and demos tailored to help businesses (big and small) grow online. Here are two major features from Stripe Tour London that got us excited:
- Global Money Management Tools: Stripe unveiled a major expansion of its money management capabilities for businesses. UK businesses can now hold and manage funds in multiple currencies within one Stripe account and even send payouts to customers or contractors in 50+ countries using just an email address. On top of that, selling cross-border is easier with support for 25 new payment methods (like UPI in India or Pix in Brazil) and tools to automatically handle taxes in 100+ countries. Businesses can even display prices in local currencies across 150 markets – a huge win for any online store looking to go global.
- AI-Powered Payment Security: Stripe introduced the world’s first AI foundation model for payments, and it’s a game-changer for fraud prevention. This new AI system analyses hundreds of subtle signals that earlier models might miss, making it dramatically better at catching suspicious activity. Case in point: Stripe reported that its detection rate for certain fraud attacks (like card testing scams) jumped from 59% to 97% almost overnight thanks to this AI upgrade. In plain terms, this means even more secure payments for businesses and their customers – the kind of behind-the-scenes protection we love to see in a payment gateway.
We found these announcements particularly relevant to our work. The global money management features are going to be a boon for our ecommerce clients who aspire to reach international customers. For example, a Swindon-based retail online store could now easily accept payments from a customer in São Paulo or Mumbai, just as smoothly as one in London. With Stripe’s new multi-currency balances and local payment methods, that store can let customers pay the way they prefer, while automatically showing prices in reais or rupees. It essentially lowers the barrier to doing business worldwide. As web developers, we know implementing multi-currency pricing or adding foreign payment options used to be a headache. Now, Stripe is making it almost plug-and-play, and we’re eager to help our clients take advantage.
On the security front, the AI enhancements give us even more confidence in Stripe as a secure payments platform. Fraud prevention might not be the flashiest topic, but it’s absolutely crucial. Stripe’s AI foundation model means smarter fraud detection working in the background on every transaction. Card testing attacks – where fraudsters use stolen card details to test which ones work – are a big nuisance for online businesses. Hearing that Stripe’s AI can catch almost all of those attempts now (up from roughly half before was reassuring. It means our clients and their customers are safer from fraudulent charges, without anyone having to lift a finger. Security has always been a top priority for us when setting up secure payments for business websites, and knowing Stripe is doubling down on AI to bolster that is fantastic news.
AI Takes Center Stage at Stripe Tour
If there was one buzzword on everyone’s lips at the event, it was AI. Beyond just that new fraud-detecting foundation model, Stripe’s whole approach seems to be infusing AI into various products. In fact, one of the highlights of Stripe Tour London was a fireside chat about the future of AI. Stripe cofounder John Collison sat down with Mati Staniszewski, cofounder of AI startup ElevenLabs, for a discussion on how far AI – especially AI voice technology – has come and how businesses are leveraging it.
This conversation was both fascinating and telling. They talked about AI-generated voices sounding incredibly human (ElevenLabs’ specialty) and what that could mean for customer service or content in the future. It was a real-time example of how AI is influencing the business world beyond just hype.
Collison also shared Stripe’s vision on the bigger picture of AI in commerce. He noted that we’re on the cusp of two huge shifts in the economy: AI and stablecoins (digital currencies). Stripe’s view is that these technologies could rewire how online commerce works in the near future. For AI, one idea he floated is that it could enable “agentic transactions” – basically, smart agents doing shopping or business for you online. That might sound a bit sci-fi, but it shows Stripe is thinking ahead about how AI can be embedded in payment tools. The key takeaway for us was clear: Stripe is heavily investing in AI to improve its services, whether it’s fraud prevention, smarter analytics, or new ways to transact. We even heard about upcoming AI-powered features like more automated dispute management and personalised checkout experiences, all aimed at helping businesses run smoother. Stripe’s message was that they want to embed more AI features into their platform so that businesses of all sizes can benefit from cutting-edge tech without needing their own data science team.
It was encouraging to see that Stripe isn’t just resting on its laurels. They’re proactively exploring how emerging tech like AI (and yes, even stablecoins) can make online store transactions more efficient and secure. As developers and consultants, we appreciate this forward-looking approach. It means the tools we use to build your ecommerce sites are only getting smarter and more powerful.
Bringing It Home: What It Means for Our Clients
Attending Stripe Tour London 2025 wasn’t just a day out of the office for us – it was an investment in knowledge that we can pass directly to our clients. We’ve always prided ourselves on being experts in building ecommerce websites and helping businesses set up secure payment systems. Now we have fresh insights and tools to reinforce that expertise.
First and foremost, the event reinforced why we choose Stripe as our preferred payment gateway. Stripe has proven once again that it’s committed to innovation and security in online payments. (Fun fact: Stripe revealed it now serves over 1 million UK businesses, including 45% of the FTSE 100 companies. When nearly half of Britain’s biggest companies trust Stripe for payments, it speaks volumes about reliability – and it makes us even more confident in recommending it to you.)
For our current partners and potential clients, here’s our bottom line: If you’re running an online store or planning to launch one, you’re in good hands with Stripe and Swindon Web Creations. The new multi-currency and international payment features announced at Stripe Tour mean we can help you reach customers far beyond the UK without breaking a sweat. Want to sell to Europe, Asia, or the Americas? We’ll be able to implement those new Stripe capabilities to handle currency and local payment options seamlessly. Worried about fraud or security? Stripe’s AI advancements have that covered, and we’ll make sure your integration is set up to maximise those protections for truly secure payments for your business.
Another thing we loved was seeing how Stripe is expanding into services that go beyond just processing payments. They talked about tools to embed financial services into other platforms – for example, Stripe Capital for business loans, the ability for companies to offer their own charge cards through Stripe Issuing, and the upcoming rollout of Stripe Treasury for banking-like services. While not every business will need these, it’s good to know what’s on the horizon. It shows that Stripe is evolving into a one-stop-shop for online financial infrastructure. For us, staying in the loop on these developments means we can advise you on what might add value to your particular business model.
Summary
In the end, our trip down the M4 paid off with plenty of actionable insights. We returned to Swindon energised (and admittedly a bit tired – it was a long day!) but most importantly, equipped with knowledge about Stripe’s latest offerings. We’re already discussing how to incorporate these updates into our upcoming projects.
To wrap up, Stripe Tour London 2025 underscored that the future of ecommerce is bright, fast-evolving, and packed with opportunity. Whether it’s leveraging new payment methods to expand your ecommerce reach, or embracing AI-driven tools for greater security and efficiency, we’re thrilled to help our clients ride this wave of innovation. The long drive was absolutely worth it for the inspiration and information we gained. We’re looking forward to implementing these Stripe advancements and continuing to build secure, cutting-edge online stores for our clients.
If you’re curious about how these new features could benefit your online business, or you need help with secure payments for business websites, you know where to find us – we’re always up for a chat (preferably over a coffee, maybe even one as good as the one that fueled our M4 journey!).
