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The Collison brothers’ company has raised $600m in Series G funding, with plans to put it towards international expansion.
Referencing the need for reliable payments infrastructure in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Stripe has been bolstered with $600m in new funding, bringing the company’s total value to $36bn.
The extended Series G round was led by investors including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, GV and Sequoia. The financing takes place on the same terms and valuation as previous Series G funding, which amounted to $250m last September.
In its announcement, the company said that its mission is to “grow the GDP of the internet”.
“With more than $2bn on its balance sheet, a capital-efficient business model and a highly-diversified, growing, global user base, Stripe is in a position to both provide uninterrupted service to its users in a time of stress and invest in long-term improvements,” Stripe said.
The fintech company, co-founded by Limerick-born brothers John and Patrick Collison, said the new funding will go towards three key areas: product development, global expansion and other strategic initiatives. It confirmed plans to launch in Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta and Romania.
The company currently employs more than 2,500 people, with around 300 of those based at its Dublin office. In March of last year, Stripe said it planned to grow its engineering hub in the Irish capital with hundreds of new roles, after securing an e-money licence from the Central Bank.
‘We think the dislocation could be here for a while’
Stripe president John Collison said of the latest funding: “People who never dreamt of using the internet to see the doctor or buy groceries are now doing so out of necessity. And businesses that deferred moving online or had no reason to operate online have made the leap practically overnight.
“We believe now is not the time to pull back, but to invest even more heavily in Stripe’s platform.”
Speaking with Business Insider, Collison said that the uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic was the reason behind its push to seek more funding.
“We think the dislocation could be here for a while,” he said. “It’s not clear what the rest of 2020 looks like. It’s not clear what the rest of 2021 looks like.”
Stripe said that it currently has $2bn on its balance sheet and has signed a number of partnership deals so far this year with companies including NBC and Mattel.
