Patrick and John Collison
Limerick brothers John and Patrick Collison’s Silicon Valley e-payments start-up Stripe is going from strength to strength and has just hired former Google X division executive Claire Johnson as its new head of operations.
The move demonstrates the level of ambition the siblings have for their start-up.
Johnson, who has been at the search giant since 2004, worked on the launch of Gmail and Google Apps, and also ran a consumer operations unit for the internet giant.
Most recently, she worked at Google’s top secret X division, where she led business operations for projects such as Google’s self-driving car.
According to Re/Code’s Kara Swisher, Johnson has deep sales experience in areas such as mobile and video ads.
Stripe now employs 175 people after raising US$120m from investors that include Peter Thiel and Sequoia Capital.
Stripe raised US$80m in January in a Series C funding round that has valued the company at US$1.75bn.
Patrick (25) and John (23) Collison sold their first company Auctomatic to Canadian firm Live Current Media for US$5m (€3.2m) when they were 17 and 19, respectively.
Earlier this year, the brothers were among five Irishmen on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
