Edwin from Stripe here. At first, I think I agree with the title (the article itself, not so much). Stripe isn't really a platform. It's a platform of platforms.

The three products linked to in the article, Invoicing, Payment Links, and Capital, were three of the most requested features from our users. So we built them.

And platforms use all of them to provide these services to their users. Invoicing's smart dunning enables 14% more revenue collection; Payment Links lets businesses get started with payments with no code (and no additional cost!); Capital not only gives businesses instant access to financing that flexes with income — but allows platforms to provide that fast financing to their customers. Since these products were requested by our users, we think they'll be useful for other businesses and their customers too.

The core of Stripe is very much still platform-focused. After all, Stripe's mission is to increase the GDP of the internet. It'd be a bit naive to think that that just means payments processing in today's economy. Starting and running an internet business will always be evolving (and is getting increasingly complex), and Stripe will continue to build the products that our users ask of us.