Stripe, the Irish-American payments group, has described a “significant deceleration” in growth after years of rapid expansion.

Start-ups face a challenging environment that is “getting harder”, its founders cautioned in their annual letter, after venture capital investments declined by two thirds from the start of 2021 to the end of last year. Based in San Francisco and Dublin, Stripe is behind the financial plumbing that allows millions of businesses — such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Uber — to sell products and services. It was set up in 2011 by the Irish brothers Patrick, 34, and John Collison, 32.

“Collectively, businesses built on Stripe processed more than $817 billion in total volume in 2022, up 26 per cent from the prior year,” the Collisons wrote.

“This is a significant deceleration from the breakneck growth that we saw during 2020 and 2021.”

Stripe raised $6.5 billion in a funding round last month that valued it at $50 billion, down from $95 billion two years ago.

“While 2019 feels like a different era, it’s entirely plausible that the changes of the next four years will be greater”, the brothers wrote. “We’ll all need our wits about us.”

Start-ups are attempting to make money “earlier and in more ways” in tightening conditions, they added.

“We’re working hard to make this easier and faster across the board.”