Irish-founded payments platform Stripe’s valuation has increased to $70 billion as Sequoia Capital offers to buy shares from investors looking to cash out of the fintech firm, which helps merchants process customer payments. Sequoia is offering to purchase Stripe shares at $27.51, according to sources familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity as the details are not public, as per a Bloomberg report.
This valuation marks a rise from the $65 billion valuation Stripe reached in February but is still below the $95 billion valuation it achieved in 2021. Sequoia has extended this offer to limited partners in funds raised between 2009 and 2012 who may want liquidity for their shares, Axios reported earlier. The venture capital firm is buying up to $861 million in shares, one source indicated.
Founded in 2010 by Limerick brothers Patrick and John Collison, Stripe was first declared a “unicorn” – a privately-owned company valued at more than $1 billion – in 2014. As a payment processor, Stripe allows business owners to accept various payment methods including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, Diners Club, China UnionPay, and debit cards. Businesses can also accept payments from mobile wallets and buy now, pay later services, supporting transactions in multiple currencies.
Stripe, Inc. is an American multinational financial services and software as a service (SaaS) company, with dual headquarters in South San Francisco, California, and Dublin, Ireland. The company primarily offers payment-processing software and application programming interfaces for e-commerce websites and mobile applications.
Stripe is the largest private fintech company, boasting a valuation of about $65 billion and processing over $1 trillion in payment volume in 2023. The Collison brothers, John and Patrick, founded Stripe in Palo Alto, California, in 2010 and serve as the company’s president and CEO, respectively. In 2011, the company received a $2 million investment from notable figures such as Elon Musk, PayPal founder Peter Thiel, Irish entrepreneur Liam Casey, and venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and SV Angel.
