Stripe brothers’ wealth could more than double to $24bn

Patrick and John Collison founded Stripe in 2010

Credit: Bloomberg

Stripe’s billionaire founders Patrick and John Collison could be on the verge of more than doubling their combined fortune to $24bn (£17bn) as the company gears up for a funding round that could value it at more than $100bn.  

The payments company, founded in 2010 and backed by Silicon Valley figures including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, develops technology that powers billions of pounds in online sales.  

The billionaires’ stakes in Stripe were previously valued at $4.3bn each, owning roughly 12pc of the company apiece, with the company worth $36bn.  

Last week, Forbes reported that Stripe shares are being sold on secondary markets at $115bn. Bloomberg reported in November that Stripe has been in talks to raise new funding at a valuation of between $70bn and $100bn.  

The funding round is expected to be private. Patrick Collison said in December the company had "no plans" currently for a float.

Stripe declined to comment on its valuation.  

A valuation of $100bn would propel the brothers’ combined net worth to $24bn, although it would almost certainly be subject to some dilution from new investment.   

Such a figure could make Patrick and John Collison, aged 32 and 30 respectively, Ireland’s two richest people. John Collison previously became Ireland’s youngest self-made billionaires in 2017.   

Having grown up in rural County Tipperary, the Collisons relocated to San Francisco and sold their first company for $5m while still teenagers.  

There, they founded Stripe, securing early backing from Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator.   

The company develops tools that can be plugged into websites for quick online payments. According to analysts McKinsey, the global payments market is worth an estimated $2tn.  

Stripe has grown rapidly into a leader in the payments space, rivaling incumbent PayPal and Dutch-listed Adyen.  

More than 100 million people made payments using Stripe’s technology in Europe last year, which runs in the background of many e-commerce websites and apps. Approximately half of UK adults also interacted with its services. 

On Sunday, Stripe confirmed it had added former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to its board of directors.