Challenge

After launching in 2019, Madrid-based Webel quickly became one of Spain’s most popular sites for hiring professionals to perform household and personal-care services. Seven years later, Webel’s growth in service providers and transaction volume had outpaced the capabilities of its original payments provider.

“We started getting much worse customer support, much more downtime, and unexpected price increases,” said Nacho Tejero Mancho, Webel’s CEO and cofounder.

Webel needed a new financial infrastructure to maintain its growth. But any replacement had to support the company’s complex marketplace model. Under European PSD2 regulations, as enforced by Spanish authorities, Webel was required to ensure that funds flowed directly from customers to service providers, rather than being held by the platform.

Webel also followed custom payout schedules, waiting to disburse funds until it confirmed that services were completed to the customer’s satisfaction. The team needed a way to give providers faster access to their funds once that service-verification window had passed.

In addition, Webel wanted to offer a native onboarding experience so users wouldn’t be redirected to a third-party page for identity verification, which could cause confusion or hesitation about sharing data with an unfamiliar company.

To reduce the number of failed payments it had been experiencing, Webel wanted more reliable payment processing and provided advanced fraud protection. But with plans to expand its marketplace beyond Spain’s borders, Webel also needed support for additional payment methods and multiple currencies.

Solution

In 2025, Webel selected Stripe to rebuild its financial infrastructure. Using Stripe Connect, Webel designed a marketplace architecture in which each service professional has their own account and receives payments directly from customers, while Webel automatically collects a commission on each transaction.

Webel also used Connect’s flexible APIs to manage the platform’s custom logic, which determines when funds are released to providers based on the type of service delivered. For example, a cleaner receives funds 24 hours after completing a job, while a plumber must wait 72 hours, giving Webel time to confirm that the customer is satisfied. After that waiting period, providers can transfer earnings to their external bank account in minutes rather than days using Instant Payouts.

To maintain a native onboarding experience, Webel’s engineering team created a customized onboarding flow on top of Connect. This allows providers to complete the verification process without leaving the Webel interface, while Webel securely passes the required data to Stripe.

With Connect, all payments routed through Webel are processed by Stripe Payments, which provides 99.999% uptime and offers cross-border and multicurrency payment capabilities. The Webel team used Stripe APIs to integrate several payment methods into its checkout page, including credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, while also offering payment links for its merchants. With payment links, merchants can accept payments instantly through a prebuilt, hosted checkout page.

Webel also activated Adaptive Pricing, which automatically converts prices into a customer’s preferred currency. This feature helps Webel create more localized checkout experiences, improve conversion, and expand more easily into markets like the US and the UK.

Results

Webel completes a smooth migration with Stripe’s clear documentation

Stripe’s developer-friendly APIs and comprehensive documentation helped Webel’s engineering team implement the platform’s custom payment flows without needing extensive support. “It was clear and easy to understand,” said Mancho.

Nearly one-third of service professionals on Webel use Instant Payouts

By offering Instant Payouts through Connect, Webel enables service providers to access their earnings faster. “We already have 45% adoption,” said Mancho. “It shows how beneficial this offering is, because our professionals need money as soon as they can receive it.”

The popularity of Instant Payouts underscores the demand among Webel’s service professionals for financial tools such as loans, credit cards, or business spending accounts, which Webel could potentially offer in the future through Stripe embedded finance solutions.

Custom onboarding flow provides quick, reassuring experience for service providers

Keeping new users in the Webel environment for onboarding rather than redirecting them to a Stripe page has minimized questions and confusion. “It’s seamless for them,” said Mancho.

Webel minimizes downtime with Stripe’s reliable payment processing

Stripe’s 99.999% historical uptime marks a meaningful improvement over the performance of Webel’s previous payment provider. “In the past year on Stripe, we had total downtime of only about two hours,” said Mancho. “That’s really important to us.”

Stripe supports Webel’s international expansion plans

Adopting Stripe has given Webel a strong foundation for international growth. Stripe’s global infrastructure makes it easy for Webel to add local payment methods, accept payments and make payouts in multiple currencies, and rely on Stripe for PCI and regulatory compliance.

Because Adaptive Pricing is already enabled, customers in new markets can see prices listed and pay in their local currency.