Fintech Startup Stripe Will Lend Money to Customers

Stripe Inc. became one of the most valuable financial-technology startups by helping businesses accept online payments. Now it’s getting into lending.

The San Francisco-based company launched Stripe Capital Sept. 5. The service will start in the U.S. and will make loans to businesses that are already Stripe customers, as well as merchants selling on services like Shopify that use Stripe to process payments. Stripe will use the data it has on customers to help determine loan eligibility and terms. The first target market will be smaller businesses that use Stripe, rather than larger customers, such as Amazon.com Inc., that already have access to cash.

Stripe Capital will start out by focusing on ...