The Collison brothers' Stripe raises $250m in fresh funding at a $35bn valuation
The payments giant founded by the Irish duo will use the capital to fuel its international expansion.
STRIPE, THE FINTECH company founded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison, is raising $250 million in additional funding, at a new pre-money valuation of $35 billion.
Investors in the round include General Catalyst, Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz, among others. Stripe said that it plans to use the capital to accelerate its international expansion, grow its product suite and extend its enterprise capabilities.
The payments giant is headquartered in California and has been expanding rapidly. Stripe’s Irish office is its fastest-growing, and the company expects to be at 300 employees in Dublin by year-end. Globally, Stripe has a headcount of more than 2,000 people.
“Even now, in 2019, less than 8% of commerce happens online,” John Collison, the president and co-founder of Stripe, said. “We’re investing now to build the infrastructure that’ll power internet commerce in 2030 and beyond. If we get it right, we can help the internet fulfil its potential as an engine for global economic progress.”
Stripe processes hundreds of billions of dollars a year for millions of businesses worldwide, including now Airbnb, Twilio and GitHub.
In an announcement this evening, the company said that with five out of six new internet users coming online from areas outside of North America and western Europe, it has invested heavily in expanding to new markets.
Stripe recently launched in eight additional countries and will be expanding to more in the coming months. This will bring the total to 40 countries covering 70% of the global economy, with many more launches planned for 2020.
The company is also growing its product range, and last week, it announced new products including Stripe Capital to give businesses easier access to funds and the Stripe Corporate Card to manage their corporate spending.
Stripe said that it is looking to expand its user base on both ends of the spectrum: to help entrepreneurs start an internet business, while aiding complex international enterprises in their payment processing.
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