John Collison pictured at Stripe Sessions. Image: Marla Aufmuth
Stripe plans to expand its global reach and grow its product base following investment.
In raising $250m in additional funding, Stripe has hit a new pre-money valuation of $35bn – surpassing Airbnb and Palantir to sit among the highest-valued US start-ups.
The latest investment comes from a round including General Catalyst, Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz, among others.
What Stripe plans to do with this latest injection of capital is three-pronged: it will accelerate its international expansion, grow its product suite and extend its enterprise capabilities.
On the first of these points, Stripe has already made significant investments in new markets. The company recently extended its reach in Europe with eight additional countries and more are expected to follow into 2020. All told, Stripe will be available in 40 countries covering 70pc of the global economy.
This global expansion is heavily driven from Stripe’s Dublin office, its fastest-growing base and first international engineering hub. Globally, Stripe has a headcount of more than 2,000 and expects to have 300 working out of Dublin by the end of this year.
New recruit Eileen O’Mara will be essential to these future plans. O’Mara was announced last week as EMEA revenue and growth lead at the Dublin hub and joins another recent senior hire, Google veteran Matt Henderson, who leads product strategy in Europe from Dublin.
‘We’re investing now to build the infrastructure that’ll power internet commerce in 2030 and beyond’
– JOHN COLLISON
In its evolution from a payments technology provider, Stripe has added tools for billing, point-of-sale and fraud detection to what it calls its global payments and treasury network. Its latest products are Capital for business funding and a corporate card.
As well as providing small businesses with essential commercial tools, Stripe’s clients include international enterprises and the modern tech company’s mission is to grow the GDP of the internet, as a Stanford case study put it back in 2016.
“Even now, in 2019, less than 8pc of commerce happens online,” said president and co-founder John Collison. “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.”
