Payment processed: The rise of Stripe

2/29/24 7:00PM

Chips off the table

‍Fintech darling Stripe has struck a deal for current and former employees to sell ~$1 billion in Stripe shares, possibly delaying the company’s long-awaited IPO.

The good news for those cashing out some of their hard-earned shares is that the deal was done at a reported $65 billion valuation, a 30% increase on its last fund raise, when the company raised over $6.5bn in one of the largest private stock sales in history. Despite this uptick, the valuation falls below its 2021 peak of $95bn and well below smaller private sales of Stripe stock that were done at prices that implied a valuation north of $100bn.

Founded by the Irish Collison brothers, Stripe has become an indispensable player in the “buying stuff on the internet” ecosystem, with the company reportedly processing a mind-boggling $1 trillion in payments last year, according to a recent interview given by CEO PatrickCollison. That means Stripe processed more than the GDP of the vast majority (175+) of countries on Earth.

‍Go faster Stripes

‍Stripe supercharged its growth by striking early partnerships with other tech startups, including Shopify and Instacart. In recent years, however, the company has also cracked a number of household brands, with Stripe now processing payments for companies such as Ford, Amazon, and IBM.

When e-commerce went hyperbolic in the pandemic, Stripe was catapulted into the limelight as one of the most valuable startups in the world, becoming something of a bellwether for the broader IPO pipeline ever since. Last year's tally of 171public listings marked the global market's lowest point since 2012. Now it looks like Stripe may wait until 2025 to go public... if it does at all.

#10

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