The payment company Stripe is valued at 95 billion US dollars after a new round of financing, making it the most valuable start-up in the United States.
The San Francisco and Dublin-based company announced Sunday that it had raised $ 600 million in new funds from investors such as Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management and Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency. The investment nearly triples Stripe’s final value of $ 35 billion.
Funding comes amid a surge in digital tools and services adoption in the pandemic as more people live, work and shop online. This has sparked a wave of investments in tech startups and staggering ratings in tech startups, as well as a multitude of highly rated IPOs. Investors have valued Airbnb, the recently flooded home rental start-up, at $ 123 billion. Roblox, a children’s game startup, went public for $ 45 billion when it went public last week.
Stripe was founded in 2010 and develops software that enables companies to process payments online. As more and more people have turned to online shopping during the pandemic, Stripe’s offers are in demand. It is the largest of a class of fast-growing, highly regarded financial technology companies.
Stripe currently processes hundreds of billions of dollars in payments annually in 42 countries, Dhivya Suryadevara, Stripe’s chief financial officer, said in an interview. “We are in a high-growth industry and within that industry the company is experiencing high-growth growth itself,” she said. Ms. Suryadevara declined to provide details about Stripe’s sales or growth.
Stripe was seen as a candidate for an IPO. Another financial technology startup, Coinbase, went public earlier this month in a transaction that some expect could hit $ 100 billion. Robinhood, a stock trading app, also saw a surge in ratings on the pandemic.
Stripe said in an announcement that it intends to use the money to expand in Europe, including its Dublin office. The company’s sibling, John Collison, 30 and Patrick, 32, were born in Ireland.
In a statement, John Collison, President of Stripe, said the company would be heavily focused on Europe this year. “The growth opportunities for the European digital economy are immense,” he said.
The company, which started working with startups and small businesses, will also invest in building more tools to help larger companies process payments. It has 50 companies that process more than $ 1 billion as customers annually.