US fintech giant Stripe has solidified its position as one of the most valuable private companies globally, announcing a $91.5 billion valuation following a tender offer to provide liquidity to current and former employees.
The deal, structured through agreements with external investors, marks a significant rebound from its $70 billion valuation during a secondary share sale in 2024 and a sharp rise from its $50 billion valuation after a $6.5 billion funding round in 2023.
The $91.5 billion figure brings Stripe close to its all-time high of $95 billion , achieved in 2021 after a $600 million funding round.
Stripe will also repurchase an undisclosed number of shares from employees and shareholders as part of the agreement.
The announcement follows reports from mid-February 2025 that Stripe was exploring a share sale at an $85 billion valuation , indicating rapid momentum in investor confidence.
Stripe attributed the valuation surge to a 38% year-over-year increase in payment volume , processing $1.4 trillion in transactions during 2024 . The company now serves half of the Fortune 100 , and has strengthened over the years its dominance in enterprise payment solutions.
In 2021 Stripe Hit $95 billion post-$600 million funding, becoming Silicon Valley’s most valuable private firm.In 2023 it dropped to $50 billion after a $6.5 billion investment round amid broader tech market turbulence. Stripe rebounded to $70 billion in 2024 via a secondary share sale, setting the stage for 2025’s $91.5 billion leap.
Stripe reported a 38% year-over-year increase in total payment volume (TPV) , reaching $1.4 trillion in 2024 . This growth rate outpaces many fintech peers in the payments sector, where industry averages for TPV growth typically range between 15-25% annually.
By comparison, competitors like PayPal (which reported $1.3 trillion TPV in 2023, up ~10% YoY) and Adyen (€1.2 trillion TPV in 2023, ~20% YoY growth) show slower expansion . Stripe’s focus on high-growth enterprises and global scalability likely contributes to its outperformance.
While competitors like Adyen and Braintree compete in the payment processing space, Stripe’s API-first approach and ecosystem (e.g., fraud prevention, subscription billing) create stickiness for enterprises places it in a league with only a handful of global fintech leaders, including PayPal and Adyen.
Stripe was co-founded by Patrick Collison and John Collison , Irish brothers who moved to the U.S. from a rural village in Ireland at a young age.
Their entrepreneurial journey began long before Stripe: Patrick started coding as a teenager and sold his first company, Shuppa (a payments startup), in 2008, while John co-founded Auctomatic , a software company acquired in 2008.
These early experiences laid the groundwork for their focus on simplifying financial infrastructure.
In 2010, the brothers launched Stripe with a clear mission: “to create a payment platform that would make it easy for developers to integrate payments into their websites and apps” .
They identified a gap in the market—existing payment systems were overly complex for businesses, especially startups—and aimed to build a developer-friendly solution.
Patrick (CEO) and John (President) envisioned Stripe as infrastructure that “should already exist” but didn’t, prioritizing simplicity and scalability.
