What Stripe’s Atlas Program Signals About Its Strategy

Being a digital payments player is about more than just powering payments; it’s about empowering global consumers/businesses.

But is that really what Stripe’s latest product announcement at Mobile World Congress yesterday (Feb. 24) was designed to show? Or does it really show Stripe’s, well, real stripes?

The announcement is the launch of Atlas, a new product aimed at providing entrepreneurs around the world with access to the necessary “building blocks” for starting and growing a global Internet business.

Atlas gives entrepreneurs the ability to incorporate a U.S. company, set up a U.S. bank account and accept payments with Stripe. It also allows access to basic services, like tax advice from PwC, legal advice from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and tools from Amazon (including $15,000 in AWS credit).

“While the Internet is theoretically borderless, the majority of the world’s population lives in a country where they don’t have access to high-quality banking or payments infrastructure. Atlas gives entrepreneurs around the world a way to access robust business and banking infrastructure, no matter where they’re from, so they can build an online business that’s global from day one. The same way Stripe took the complex process of setting up online payments and made it easy, Atlas streamlines the tasks necessary to set up a business,” a Stripe blog post about the news reads.

Stripe says that its solution can have a company up and running in a matter of days and at a fraction of the price of previous versions. The traditional safeguards and processes for establishing a U.S. business still exist, but Stripe notes that Atlas takes away much of the friction.

Stripe also touted the advisory board that it has formed for Atlas, including:

  • Lawrence Summers: 71st Secretary of the Treasury of the United States
  • Fadi Ghandour: Founder and Vice Chairman of Aramex and Executive Chairman of Wamda Capital, a VC fund focused on technology investments in the Arab world
  • Neal Wolin: Former Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President for Economic Policy (Obama administration)
  • Linda Rottenberg: Cofounder and CEO of Endeavor, a nonprofit organization that pioneered high-impact entrepreneurship in South America
  • Ben Lawsky: Former Superintendent of Financial Services, State of New York

As of yesterday, Atlas is available in beta. For entrepreneurs to participate, they will need an invitation from Stripe or one of its 60 accelerator and investor partners. Beta pricing is $500, which will be waived for the first 100 Atlas entrepreneurs.

Perhaps a bigger question is whether this gives the world some important clues about Stripe’s position and strategy — a platform for startups that have simple business needs. Which means, of course, that the businesses that will be attracted to this proposition are those that will either outgrow Stripe once their business grows and their needs become more complicated or die on the vine because they couldn’t make a go of it.

Either way, Stripe might find itself in the unfortunate position of subsidizing the growth of a business that leaves the moment it has the potential to become a profit-making enterprise or one that would never have made it to begin with. It’s a business proposition that could be more about cost of churn, a rather expensive lesson that its offline counterpart, Square, has also learned doesn’t always deliver the returns on investment that make for attractive market valuations.

Flying Cars Can Wait: CES Shows Future Is Robots That Cool Your Soup, Pick Up Socks

AI Me gadget from CES 2025

What do the movies “Blade Runner,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Back to the Future Part II” and Spike Jonze’s “Her” all have in common?

These science fiction movies, each depicting various versions of a future full of fantastic technologies, all take place in the year 2025 or earlier.

Though some of the high-tech gadgets and futuristic innovations seen in these films, such as hoverboards and flying cars, haven’t quite materialized in everyday life, they have sparked imagination and set the stage for the very real innovations. As the dozens of groundbreaking products and wacky gadgets that debuted at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week reveal, the future is certainly now.

CES, after all, rarely disappoints when it comes to providing a first-look at some truly strange gadgets that might just represent the ultimate showcase of tomorrow’s technology.

From artificial intelligence (AI) being embedded into everything and smarter than ever home devices, to autonomous robotic companions and wearable tech that both bends and blends reality, many of the inventions that once seemed out of reach in Hollywood films are now being unveiled on the convention floor.

See also: The Five Not-So-Obvious Things That Will Change the Digital Economy in 2025

Could Smart Home Robots Revolutionize Daily Life?

It’s becoming clear that today’s technological advancements are increasingly bridging the gap between what was once imagined and what’s now becoming real.

For example, smart home robots are no longer a futuristic fantasy — they are being positioned as potentially indispensable components of modern households.

CES 2025 saw the debut of the Roborock Saros Z70, a robot vacuum with a telescopic, five-axis arm. Rosey the Robot from “The Jetsons” has nothing on this little gadget, which its maker describes as “a mechanical arm that sees and thinks,” and is able to pick up and put away items like socks, shoes, tissues and more.

For more serious household tasks, the SwitchBot Multitasking Household Robot K20+ Pro was also unveiled at CES 2025. “Whether it’s delivering objects, vacuuming, monitoring pets, purifying the air, providing home security, or even mobilizing smart tablets, the K20+ Pro juggles household management with ease … from delivering food and drinks to carrying small packages,” said a company release.

Read more: Training Robots Using Video Games Could Democratize Warehouse Automation

The K20+ Pro’s core is designed for customization and flexibility, serving as a modular foundation that allows users to create, adapt, and personalize the robot for a wide variety of innovative applications, and can connect with third-party smart devices like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, ensuring integration into any smart home ecosystem.

Elsewhere, TCL premiered its “AI Me” (Amy) concept companion robot, complete with animated eyes, autonomous movement and an AI-powered camera on its head; while Dreame showcased its X50 Ultra robot vacuum that has legs to avoid obstacles.

As smart home technology continues to evolve, the integration of robots designed to assist in daily activities could significantly alter how we interact with our homes, manage tasks and even shape the future of work.

TomBot, for example, debuted an emotional robotic lap dog, Jennie, an AI robot therapy dog designed to keep seniors company. On the more playful side of things, Tokyo robotics startup Yukai Engineering introduced the Nékojita FuFu, a portable cat-shaped robot that can blow air to cool hot food or drinks.

It wasn’t solely robotics for use at home being showcased at CES. John Deere used the Las Vegas event to reveal its own autonomous agricultural products. The fully autonomous machines were on display from Jan. 7 to 10, and were a bit bigger in size, if equivalently less cute, than the TomBot puppies.

Read more: Google Reportedly Bringing Gemini AI to TV Sets

The Future Is Calling and Consumers Can Answer Anywhere

Behind the strangely futuristic convenience of a robot picking up your laundry and taking out the trash while it vacuums and interfaces with the rest of your household appliances lies a much larger story: the rise of the smart economy.

As CES 2025 showed, augmented reality (AR) glasses are the eye candy of the smart economy. A host of futuristic specs were unveiled, capable of a range of tasks that turn the wearer into a high-tech superhero.

Halliday showcased “the world’s first proactive AI glasses with invisible display,” while freshly debuted Loomos.AI glasses offer a ChatGPT-4o integrated AI assistant.

But other appendages remain up for grabs, and innovative products from smart rings to apps like WowMouse, which allows smartwatch wearers to control devices using just their gestures and fingers, are vying for market share in ways that aim to make daily life more convenient, efficient and secure.