Fintech Stripe scores Blockbuster’s $ 95 billion valuation

Thanks to the new fundraiser, Stripe is now worth more than other startup darlings like Instacart Inc. Globally, it is still lagging behind Chinese fintech giant Ant Group Co. in terms of valuation.

As a payment processor for startups and fast-growing internet companies, Stripe benefited from the pandemic-induced boom in online shopping. Stripe customers, including DoorDash Inc.,

Shopify Inc.

and Wayfair Inc.

all experienced a surge in demand as consumers shifted their spending from physical establishments.

“We are now bigger than the entire e-commerce [market] was when we first started with Stripe, ”said Dhivya Suryadevara, Stripe’s chief financial officer, in an interview. Stripe launched in 2010.

During the pandemic, some small businesses were unhappy with the steps Stripe and other payment processors took to protect themselves from potential losses. The maneuvers, in which the companies sometimes had to wait extra days or even months to access money deposited in their accounts, amplified the liquidity crisis at many companies.

Stripe does not disclose its payment volumes or financial results. The company said in a release that it processes payments worth hundreds of billions of dollars per year for millions of companies worldwide and counts more than 50 companies as customers each using Stripe to process more than $ 1 billion annually.

In addition to payments, Stripe has added more financial services to the products it offers to customers. In December, Stripe announced it was partnering with banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

and Citigroup Inc.

to provide checking accounts and other business banking services to merchants.

Investors have long viewed Stripe and other payment companies as a way to gain exposure to a range of high-growth industries. More recently, however, some have begun to question whether the Covid-fueled run-up in technology stocks is exaggerated, and they are beginning to rotate from popular tech companies to established industries such as banking and industrial firms.

With the new financing, Stripe plans to expand its European operations. The San Francisco-based company recently named Dublin as its second headquarters, adding former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to its board of directors.

Closer to his home in California, Stripe has entered the fray of political speech that other tech giants wade through. After the pro-Trump riots in the Capitol in January, it stopped processing payments for President Trump’s fundraising apparatus.

Write to Peter Rudegeair at [email protected]