Polar is an open-source merchant-of-record and billing platform ("payment infrastructure for the 21st century") built for developers and AI-native SaaS: usage-based billing, entitlements, global sales-tax handling, positioned as the Stripe-generation successor for AI-era software monetization. Distribution is developer-led: open-source repo, 17,000+ community signups, 5,300 GitHub stars.
Birk Jernström: founder; previously founded Tictail, the Stockholm e-commerce platform acquired by Shopify, then led product at Shopify. Backers listed on the company page include Accel, Abstract and Mischief plus operator angels, "supporting us from Day 1".
€8.6M ($10M) seed led by Accel, announced June 2025. At announcement: thousands of developers on platform and ~120% month-over-month revenue growth sustained over the prior six months since the v1.0 launch (Sep 2024). No Series A announced; the company's own funding surfaces list only the seed backers (checked 2026-08-03).
Merchant-of-record billing is a proven category (Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, both scaled on classic SaaS). Polar's bet is generational: AI-native software monetizes by usage, agents transact autonomously, and the incumbent MoR stack was not built for either. Open-source distribution gives it the developer-adoption motion the incumbents lack; the risk is Stripe moving down into the same gap.
Absolute revenue base behind the 120% MoM figure (growth off a small base), current run-rate, and take-rate economics vs. Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy competition. Growth figures are company-reported at seed announcement; a year has passed, current numbers need a direct conversation.