Stripe now worth $70bn as Sequoia invests over $800m

Sequoia’s new investment, first reported by Axios, was confirmed in a social media post by Limerick-born co-founder John Collison.

“Lots of firms say that they’re long-term oriented, but Sequoia actually is,” he posted. “Fourteen years after their first check [sic] in Stripe, they’re making their largest investment yet. This is a secondary transaction, no funds will go to the company.”

The deal edges privately-held Stripe’s valuation up to $70bn from its most recent set value of $65bn.

It hit a valuation high during the Covid pandemic of $95bn before falling to $50bn last year.

Stripe, which is jointly headquartered in Dublin and San Francisco, is one of the world’s largest online payment companies and is used by thousands of major e-commerce firms. Its last financial update revealed that it handled over $1trn of payments last year, up 25pc on the year before that.

Founded in 2010 by Limerick-born brothers Patrick and John Collison, the company is one of the most-watched firms for a potential IPO. In public interviews, including with this news organisation, John Collison has repeatedly said that the firm does not yet plan a public offering.

This has left some longstanding investors and employees seeking ways of realising a monetary return on their shares in the company.

Earlier this year, the company struck a $1bn deal, where the company and some investors allow staff to cash out by buying their shares.

The strategy was cited last month by John Collision as something that may be repeated as a way to satisfy staff and investors.

Sequoia is offering to buy Stripe shares at $27.51, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The venture capital firm offered that price to limited partners in funds raised between 2009 and 2012 who might want liquidity for their shares. Sequoia is buying up to $861m in shares, one of the people said.

Stripe, which is in competition with rivals such as Adyen, Braintree and PayPal, has a regular pipeline of deals with retail and commercial brands.

Last month, it announced that the hotel group Accor had chosen Stripe as a payment provider.

In Ireland, that includes hotel properties such as the five-star Carton House and the Ibis, Dublin.

In the US, Stripe also offers a range of financial products and services, including business loans, corporate credit cards and fraud prevention.