Challenge

When Galicia-based Barkibu launched its pet insurance service in Spain in 2021, it confronted a fundamental challenge for the pet insurance industry: the reimbursement model. Pet parents had to pay out of pocket for veterinary bills that sometimes reached thousands of euros, then wait for reimbursement. The dynamic created financial anxiety at precisely the moment when customers wanted to focus on their pet. “Our customers want peace of mind. They don’t want to think about money when they’re thinking about their pet’s health,” said Barkibu co-founder Pablo Pazos.

After years of pivoting its business model to optimise product-market fit, Barkibu wasn’t just building another pet insurance product – it was determined to solve the industry’s most painful friction point through technology. To do so, the company needed a payment processor that could provide a technically sound, deeply customer-centric foundation for its business. “It’s not just about what conditions you cover, but how you cover them – how fast you’re solving claims and paying customers back,” Pazos said.

The Barkibu team knew they needed reliable payment processing that could handle both one-time purchases and recurring premium payments and enable the international expansion they planned, while also minimising customer churn.

To solve the core challenge of eliminating out-of-pocket payments for customers, Barkibu tried making immediate transfers to clinics, but clinic participation was a barrier to implementation. The company decided to launch its own card programme through a banking-as-a-service start-up but found the integration and customer experience too painful. Barkibu needed a solution that would allow customers to pay at any veterinary clinic in Europe without using their own money, and would provide Barkibu with complete visibility and control over transactions to manage risk.

Solution

Having worked together since 2015, Barkibu already trusted Stripe’s developer-oriented approach. “When you have a company that was started by software developers, you value different things than companies led by business people,” Pazos said. “We turned to Stripe because it was the best for developers.”

As it launched its pet insurance product, Barkibu used Stripe Payments for payment processing, starting with Stripe Checkout. As the business matured, it evolved to using the customisable UI building blocks in the Stripe Payment Element for more control. Later, Barkibu implemented a fully customised solution using Stripe’s APIs and SDKs.

“At the beginning, when you launch, the only thing you want is for things to work. So we used the complete Stripe checkout page, where you just configure the product and it works,” Pazos said. “Eventually, as our business grew and matured, our funnel team wanted more control, so we evolved to using Elements, and from there we continued personalising.”

Today, Barkibu uses the Optimized Checkout Suite, which includes a set of embeddable UI components through the Stripe Payment Element, access to numerous payment methods, and flexible integration options that supported Barkibu’s evolution from start-up to scale-up. This has allowed Barkibu to offer payment methods that correspond with local preferences across markets. While Spanish customers tend to prefer credit and debit cards, German customers prefer SEPA transfers. The company also supports digital wallets, with Apple Pay being particularly popular among its predominantly iPhone-using customer base.

Barkibu implemented Stripe Billing to handle customers’ recurring premium payments. Though the company began with Stripe’s default settings when launching, Barkibu gradually customised its billing experience, including personalising payment-related communications with customers. It needed an approach for managing a unique single-product strategy, which is consistent across all European markets, while also accommodating regional payment preferences. The company also has hundreds of different prices for the same product, based on breed, sex, and age of the pet. It felt it could rely on Stripe Billing to do the heavy lifting in accounting for all of these variables. Additionally, Barkibu built its referral programme from scratch on top of Billing. To reduce declines for recurring charges, Barkibu also took advantage of Smart Retries, which uses smart dunning to identify the optimal day and time to retry a payment.

While these improvements enhanced Barkibu’s payment operations, the company still faced its biggest challenge: eliminating the out-of-pocket expense burden for pet parents. The solution was groundbreaking: a card programme where customers would receive a virtual card upon purchasing insurance, followed by a physical card delivered to their home.

“We found a way, and I could not be happier,” Pazos said. “For the first and only time in the insurance industry in Europe, customers don’t have to pay into the reimbursement model.”

To manage risk, Barkibu implemented controls through Issuing that limit card usage to merchants coded as veterinary clinics. The company also developed AI capabilities to analyse transaction line items to determine covered expenses. Stripe’s real-time API and comprehensive transaction data allowed Barkibu to immediately detect and respond to improper card usage.

Results

Barkibu expands to four additional European markets with local payment methods

Stripe Payments has enabled Barkibu to expand into France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal while adapting to local payment preferences. Looking ahead, Barkibu plans to evolve beyond pet health insurance to become the leading health provider for pets in Europe.

Integrated referral and coupon systems drive customer acquisition

Barkibu has built a powerful referral system on top of Stripe Billing that has become one of their key acquisition channels. The company uses Stripe’s coupon functionality to manage both affiliate promotions and customer incentives, seamlessly integrating these discounts into their subscription billing process.

Smart Retries reduces involuntary churn

Stripe Billing’s automatic retry functionality for failed payments has helped Barkibu maintain continuous coverage for customers, minimising involuntary churn in its subscription business. Most failed payments now go through on the first retry.

The number of Barkibu card programme users increases 238% in 2 months

The Barkibu card powered by Stripe Issuing has seen rapid adoption, growing from 2,368 unique users in January 2025 to nearly 5,000 in February and about 8,000 in March. This represents a 238% increase in just 2 months, with further acceleration expected as more of Barkibu’s 75,000 customers adopt the card.

Issuing drives daily inbound requests from veterinary clinics

The Barkibu card has become the company’s most effective veterinary clinic acquisition channel. “Every day we have clinics writing to us via email or calling us,” Pazos said. “They’re saying, ‘Our customers are amazed with this service. They don’t have to pay up-front anymore.’”

100% real-time transaction visibility

Stripe Issuing’s API-first approach gives Barkibu complete visibility and control over all card transactions. “With Stripe Issuing, we know everything that happens immediately,” Pazos said. “Our limitations are our own technology, not access to transaction information. Without that visibility, we would never have launched this product.”

Barkibu’s revenue grows 3,025% in 3 years through Stripe-enabled streamlining

Barkibu has experienced rapid growth, with annual revenue increasing from €800,000 in 2021 to €25 million in 2024 – a 3,025% increase in just 3 years. Throughout this period, Stripe’s unified platform has been central to Barkibu’s operations – managing subscription billing while enabling the company to maintain its unique single-product strategy across all markets. With Stripe processing both incoming premiums and outgoing reimbursements, Barkibu is on track to reach its €100 million revenue goal by 2027.