In October 2012, payments company Braintree set aside $2 million from its Series B to court startups to its platform by waiving the processing fees for the first $50,000 in transactions. At the time, the promotion was limited to 1,000 sign-ups. Now a part of PayPal following its acquisition, Braintree is at it again, only this time, that same offer is open to anyone as part of Braintree’s new Ignition program.
Hooray, free stuff for your startup! All you have to do is develop your product on top of Braintree’s payment processing platform. Today, PayPal-owned mobile payment processing service Braintree announced it would wave the first $50,000 of processing fees for startups building on its platform through its newly minted Ignition program. To sweeten the pot, it’s making the deal available to any U.S.-based startup instead of limiting it to only a specific number of companies. Also, it’s not requiring startups to sign any contracts or make any commitments. As it continues to compete with rival Stripe for developers’ favor, Braintree is rolling out this program again (it ran a similar smaller one in 2012) to gain more technology startup clients. As we previously reported, PayPal actually acquired the company largely because it saw it as it chance to clinch more developers and startups as customers.