In 2021, Thinkific launched an embedded Payments feature.
Thinkific also went public in 2021 on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “THNC” with shares rising as high as $19.47, giving the Vancouver tech firm a peak market capitalization of over $2 billion.
“Thinkific Payments gives course creators tools that help them sell more and spend more time teaching and growing their business,” Greg Smith, CEO of Thinkific, stated at the time. “Tools that help them grow are crucial to supporting their vision for delivering world-class educational experiences online.”
The following year, when Payments was in full swing, a newly public Thinkific was battered by a weakened market, losing more than 80% of its peak value, shedding its freshly minted Unicorn status, and laying off a significant portion of staff across three rounds of difficult decisions.
Following the layoffs, Thinkific bolstered its leadership team in September in an effort to rebound. The company also launched Communities, a learning product “to supercharge how creators engage with, monetize, and retain their audience.” It appointed Steve Krenzer to the role of President.
This year has been better for the rebounding company. Earlier this month, we reported on a milestone hit by Thinkific Payments: over $100 million in payments volume processed since its release in November 2021.
The platform, which is a payment processor designed to maximize sales conversions, has seen strong adoption since its launch, with more than 26% of all transactions on the Thinkific platform now running through it.
In the last quarter alone, the platform processed over $29 million in gross product value, making it one of the fastest-growing embedded payment products on the internet, according to Thinkific.
“The rate of growth we’ve seen with Thinkific Payments has exceeded even our expectations, and this is quickly growing into a significant, profitable revenue stream,” said chief executive Smith. “The level of adoption we’re seeing is a great indicator that this is working and we’re confident that new, landmark products being deployed in the coming months will take our creator experience, and the success of Thinkific Payments, to the next level.”
Some of this growth will be powered by payments pioneer Stripe, with whom Thinkific partners.
At an event this month, Stripe previewed Stripe Apps to platforms and noted that “Thinkific will be one of the world’s first platforms to use Stripe Apps to distribute integrations to their Creators” when the feature launches later this year.
“Working together, Stripe and Thinkific are proud to offer a rich payments experience that has helped Thinkific Creators quickly start and grow their businesses online,” stated J. Lewis, Head of Product for Platform and Ecosystem at Stripe, recently. “With Thinkific as one of the first platforms to distribute Stripe Apps in the coming months, its Creators will gain an even richer set of tools to operate and reach customers worldwide.”
Upcoming product releases will make checkouts faster by adding support for a variety of payment methods including Stripe’s Link and will help Creators sell higher-priced education by providing their customers with access to Buy Now, Pay Later credit options like Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna.
“Stripe’s mission and roadmap is well aligned with ours, which has allowed us to move very fast,” added Thinkific’s Vice President, Head of Commerce, Peter Fitzpatrick. “Our development slate has been strong and that’s only going to continue with the most exciting product to be announced in the coming months.”
While still down markedly from its IPO high, Thinkific shares are up approximately 16% on the year.
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