Stripe processes payments for 88 percent of the Forbes AI 50 and sees who buys from where. Median growth in AI spending is close to 100 percent a year; India, Mexico, Poland and the UAE spend disproportionately on AI.
- On 11 August Stripe published an analysis of AI spending by country, based on data from all AI companies on the platform.
- Across the 35 markets with over $20 million in AI spend already in 2024, median annual growth is close to 100%; the US 91%, Australia 61%, South Korea 134%, Mexico 264%.
- The 100 largest AI companies on Stripe take 48% of revenue from outside their home market; local payment methods lift conversion by 7.4% and revenue by 12% on average.
Money numbers are hard to argue with, because behind each one sits a paid invoice. Here are a few from Stripe.
Now here is what interests me - not the US. Poland and Mexico. Markets nobody mentions at conferences, where people take out the card and pay for models. That growth shows up in Stripe's ledger, which they chose to open.
This is Stripe's analysis of Stripe's data - so it sees only those who pass through them, and it is written by a company that sells local payment methods. The growth numbers are theirs, and the conclusion 'localise' is at the same time their product, so I read the data and the recommendation separately.
If you sell anything with AI: one currency and one card no longer cut it. And not because Stripe says so, but because Mexico is growing 264 percent while you still sell only in dollars.