Financial technology company Stripe has opened a new Dublin headquarters, tripling its office space to 14,500 square metres.
The new Dublin site is one of two global headquarters, along with San Francisco.
The building will house expanding teams in engineering, product, operations, and sales.
It also features large event spaces designed to bring together founders and business leaders based in Ireland and across Europe.
Stripe, which provides online payment processing and other financial services, said it now serves 70,000 Irish businesses and sole traders, with 2,000 more joining every month.
Speaking to RTE News about Stripe's new headquarters, John Collison said it will support the company's next phase of growth.
"We'd been bursting at the seams in our old office and this is three times as much space," Mr Collison said.
"And so it'll really enable our next wave of growth allowing us to continue hiring in Dublin."
The company's growth is coming at a time of tension between the US and Europe over tariffs and tech regulation.
EU 'regulation is outdated'
The Stripe co-founder said it is an uncontroversial point to say there is now too much regulation in the EU.
"I feel like the Draghi report collected all the opinions where there was unanimous agreement that sometimes there is too much regulation and sometimes it's a lack of standardisation, where you actually maybe want more EU level regulation and less country-by-country regulation," Mr Collison said.
"I think it's fairly uncontroversial that some of the regulation is outdated, and again, in some places we actually need more EU regulation and less state-by-state regulation."
"AI is obviously the example everyone's talking about. We don't know how the industry will shake out but they're excited to jump in and regulate it early on, and that is to the detriment of European startups."
Stripe is now reported to worth more than $100 billion and the Collison brothers are each estimated to be worth around $10 billion.
But could that level of success lead to a loss of motivation and drive?
"I think if we were going to lose the drive, that would have happened a while ago," Mr Collison said.
"We just get so much joy out of the experience of running Stripe, because we are working with entrepreneurs who are pursuing their dreams.
"You never run out of enjoyable problems to really sink your teeth into."
"Stripe will pass 10,000 people this year - incredibly hard working, humble, curious people."
"The day-to-day experience of getting to work on these problems is really motivating for me and the people who work here."
"And so it's not about the money," he added.
'Proudly Irish'
Despite increasing barriers to international trade, the company said that over two-thirds of its Irish users are selling internationally.
"Stripe is proudly Irish and we're thrilled to double down on our global operations here," said Stripe co-founder John Collison.
"The Irish internet economy is sucking diesel, and this new headquarters will help us support growth for businesses all across Europe," he added.
The new dual headquarters at One Wilton Park in Dublin was officially opened by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, alongside John Collison and Stripe's chief revenue officer Eileen O’Mara.
As part of the event, the Taoiseach joined Mr Collison for a discussion on stage about how to ensure Ireland remains prosperous and competitive in the coming decades, including building more infrastructure, fuelling Irish startups, and increasing European competitiveness.
"Stripe is a true Irish success story, powering the growth of millions of businesses at home and abroad. I wish them every success in their new, state-of-the-art Dublin headquarters," Mr Martin said.
"We are committed to ensuring Ireland remains competitive on a global stage and an attractive home for businesses like Stripe to thrive in the long term," he added.
In May, Stripe was announced as the new title sponsor of the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, taking over from BT.
Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison is a former Young Scientist winner and his brother John won a category award at the exhibition.
A Dublin Bus promoting Stripe's sponsorship of the event was parked outside the company's new building for today’s launch.
In his on-stage discussion with Mr Collison, the Taoiseach referenced bottlenecks in the delivery of infrastructure.
He said that planning decisions ending up in the courts is "what's killing us".
"I believe in planning and good planning," Mr Martin said.
"What's a killer is having gone through all the planning processes, we end up in the High Court," he added.
Asked about Donald Trump, Mr Martin said that in his personal dealings with the US President, he found him to be "very personable, polite and courteous."
The Taoiseach said that Mr Trump has "woken Europe up" and forced it to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on the US.
Stripe currently employs 10,000 people globally and around 650 people in Ireland.
The new, larger headquarters will allow the company to grow its Irish-based workforce but it has not yet announced how many additional jobs it is planning to create.
