PayPal has just announced that it now has more than 250 million customers using its payment services. It has taken the firm just over 18 months to get to that goal since it announced that it had passed 200 million users in February last year. The company said that the growth in users meant that around three million people were joining the service every month.
The milestone was announced by Dan Schulman, President and CEO of PayPal, in a statement to PayPal employees all around the world, he said:
“250 million is a big figure. After all, if the PayPal platform was a country, it’d be the 5th most populated in the world, ahead of Brazil (210M) and just trailing Indonesia (266M). But like with everything else in our business, it’s not about the macro numbers, it’s about the individual experiences. The small businesses that support families and fuel communities. The single-parents managing for their families. The college students figuring out their budgets. The non-profits working to serve those in need. The people and families and entrepreneurs who are new to digital finance and turn to us because they need a better way to borrow, to save, to spend, to share. The immigrants working hard to create a better life for their families and using our platform to send money back home.”
Given its current trajectory of bringing in three million new customers every month, PayPal would reach 500 million customers in under seven years, although, as more people come online around the world there’s a good chance that the three million figure will rise, reducing the time it takes to reach the next milestone.
The news comes just over a week since the firm announced that it would be revamping its mobile app. The new redesign returns the app to PayPal’s blue and white colour scheme, removing the bit of teal that’s present in the old design. It also makes it easier to send and receive money from your contacts.