This July marks one year since PayPal started publicly trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange as an independent company again. Or put another way, it’s our first anniversary!
The traditional theme for a first anniversary is paper but given our passion for a cashless society, you won’t be surprised to hear we’re planning a paperless celebration instead. First, though, we thought we’d have a quick look back at some of the highlights from a memorable year. And they all have one thing in common: there isn’t a note or coin in sight!
22 million reasons to celebrate
With 22 million active customer accounts, the UK remains PayPal’s biggest market outside the US. It’s an achievement we’re extremely proud of – and one that lets us play a major role in shaping the future of money here. And since returning to our roots as an independent company, we’ve been able to help more Brits pay and get paid – without the need for paper.
A year of innovation
For example, we launched our new pay-as-you-go
PayPal Here card reader, which allows businesses to take contactless and Chip & PIN card payments wherever they operate, and process paperless invoices using the PayPal Here app. Plus, we rolled out
PayPal Credit with partners like Samsung, Dyson and JD Sports. Using this service, customers can add a credit limit to their PayPal wallet to spread the cost of larger online purchases over longer periods – and get away from lengthy paper applications.
We even found time to help thousands of UK small businesses kiss goodbye to the frustrating, long-winded process of getting traditional business funding with our new small business funding programme:
PayPal Working Capital. Many have already benefitted from over £185 million in cash advances, by completing our easy online application in minutes.
Upwardly mobile
Becoming independent again has also let us focus even more intently on the rise of mobile payments. After all, who needs paper notes when you can buy things with your phone? In the last year, we brought mobile payments to petrol forecourts nationwide for the first time with Shell Fill Up & Go. We even launched a
redesigned PayPal app to make it simpler than ever for our customers to move and manage their money.
Here’s to the future
This time last year, we promised that our independence would let us get back to what we do best – and we have done just that. Yet although we’re celebrating our first anniversary as an independent company, PayPal has actually been leading the way in online payments for the best part of 20 years.
In a constantly evolving financial technology sector of limitless potential, we’ve always asked ourselves ‘what’s next?’ to ensure we stay ahead of the game for our customers. And as more and more companies join the race and a new “pay” seems to appear almost every week, we will continue to innovate, invest in our technology platforms and build new partnerships that extend the reach of our services.
In other words, we won’t be standing still while we celebrate. Instead, we’ll be working harder than ever to shape the future of money. Here’s to many more anniversaries to come!