Stripe Hits $159B Valuation... And Says IPO Isn’t a Priority
Hey Payments Fanatic!
Stripe just climbed to a $159B valuation through a new employee share sale.
No IPO. No roadshow. No public market pressure.
In 2025, Stripe processed $1.9 trillion in payment volume. That’s up 34% YoY. Roughly 1.6% of global GDP flowing through one platform.
And it’s profitable. For the second year in a row. This isn’t growth at all costs anymore. It’s a profitable scale. 57% of new businesses onboarded were outside the US. The next generation of internet companies is global by default.
And then there’s AI.
The 2025 startup cohort on Stripe is the strongest in the company's history. More companies reached $10M ARR within three months than ever before. Payment volume doubled to around $400B. Bridge, acquired in 2024, saw volume grow 4x.
President at Stripe, John Collison, said it plainly: “A big capital markets transaction like an IPO is not in our top 10 or 20 priorities.”
That tells you a lot. Stripe is preparing for the next infrastructure cycle. If AI agents really start transacting on our behalf, Stripe wants to be the financial layer underneath it.
Is $159B early… or already pricing that future in?
Want to stay on top of the Payments industry? Keep scrolling. 👇 I’ll be back tomorrow with the stories that matter most.
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
📰 Top Banking Trends 2026: The Ultimate List of Innovations by DashDevs. In this article, Igor Tomych highlights that in 2025, payments have become FinTech’s core innovation layer, driven by infrastructure rather than hype. He outlines five essentials for banks this year: modular infrastructure, human-centric design, smart use of AI and emerging tech, strong ESG practices, and cloud adoption. Read the full article here
NEWS
🇬🇧 Checkout.com returns to full-year profitability and surpasses $300B in volume, as it positions for the era of agentic commerce. Checkout.com announced a return to full-year EBITDA profitability and record-breaking volume in 2025, validating its long-view strategy centred on a strong core business, a high-performance culture, and capital reinvestment into key growth markets.
🌍 Triple-A strengthens cross-border payment infrastructure with Mastercard Move. By integrating Mastercard Move’s advanced cross-border payment solutions into its remittance-as-a-service platform, Triple-A will enable its European customers to launch global remittance services with secure, near real-time payouts, delivering faster settlement and improved liquidity.
🌏 Mastercard launches protected monsters campaign with Sticky Monster Lab. The campaign blends AI-powered motion capture, KOL-led education storytelling, and shareable digital assets to bring Mastercard’s behind-the-scenes security capabilities to life across Southeast Asia.
🇬🇧 Jupiter and Noah partner to bring neobank features to Jupiter Global, making crypto feel like banking, and banking feel like crypto for 50+ million users. By integrating Noah’s regulated banking infrastructure directly into this ecosystem, the platform can now operate as a neobank.
🇺🇸 Stripe publishes 2025 annual letter and announces tentative offer to provide liquidity to current and former employees. Businesses running on Stripe generated $1.9 trillion in total volume, up 34% from 2024, and equivalent to roughly 1.6% of global GDP.
🌍 Wero announces bunq as its latest member. By partnering with bunq, which operates as one of Europe's neobanks, Wero extends its reach to a digitally active customer base that conducts payments primarily through mobile and app-based channels.
🇨🇷 Thunes and Banco Cathay of Costa Rica launch pay-to-wallet payments via SWIFT. This innovative solution transforms the reach and efficiency of Banco Cathay’s cross-border offering, enabling seamless digital disbursements to markets where mobile wallets are the dominant payment method.
🇮🇱 Thredd powers MuchBetter’s expansion into Israel. Through the partnership, Thredd is providing processing infrastructure for MuchBetter’s prepaid card and digital wallet programme, enabling consumers in Israel to securely load funds and make payments using physical and virtual cards, with additional form factors planned as the programme scales.
🇬🇧 Incard secures EMI Licence to continue its mission of building the financial operating system for digital entrepreneurs. CEO Theo Cesarini said the licence enables Incard to accelerate its mission of streamlining financial tools, such as banking, corporate cards, cash flow management, and invoicing, into a unified platform for digital entrepreneurs.
🇺🇸 Fiserv embarks on strategic AI partnerships to fuel recovery. Fiserv is launching a concerted artificial intelligence initiative aimed at reigniting its growth trajectory. The company's strategic focus has shifted from stabilisation to expansion, with newly formed alliances serving as the cornerstone of this effort.
🇺🇸 Zycus launches Zycus Pay in partnership with TransferMate to deliver embedded B2B payments. Zycus Pay allows customers to pay suppliers in more than 140 currencies across 200+ countries and territories through multiple methods, including Instant, ACH, Same-Day ACH, Domestic Wire, and International Wire.
🇺🇸 Paysafe announces partnership with Spreedly. Under the partnership, Spreedly’s global payments orchestration platform has integrated Paysafe as an acquirer to process credit card and debit card payments for online merchants targeting Europe, North America, and other international markets.
🇺🇸 Bolt taps Toffee to bring global payment infrastructure to game studios and app developers. Under the agreement, Bolt will refer game and app developers to Toffee for Merchant of Record services, giving those developers a single infrastructure partner to handle tax collection and remittance, local payment methods, regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, and global settlement across more than 190 countries.
🇺🇸 HK-based stablecoin payments firm RedotPay is said to consider a $1 billion US IPO. RedotPay is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. on a listing that could take place in New York as soon as this year.
🇲🇽 General Atlantic to acquire equity stake in Banamex. General Atlantic plans to partner with Banamex and the enhanced broader shareholder group to support the Company’s continued growth as a leading financial institution in Mexico. Read more
🇺🇸 Payoneer files application for U.S. National Trust Bank charter to strengthen regulated financial infrastructure for global businesses. This application is a critical next step in Payoneer's strategy to integrate stablecoin capabilities into its global payments ecosystem, connecting stablecoin efficiency to the local economies where nearly two million customers operate.
🇮🇳 Stripe and PayPal Ventures bet on India’s Xflow to fix cross-border B2B payments. The startup plans to deploy the new capital toward building additional products on top of its core payments infrastructure and securing regulatory licenses in new markets.
🇺🇸 Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is planning a stablecoin comeback in the second half of this year. Meta is planning to integrate a vendor to help administer stablecoin-backed payments and implement a new wallet. Meta has sent out a product request (RFP) to third-party firms and mentioned Stripe as a likely candidate for piloting Meta’s stablecoin.
Want your message in front of 100.000+ FinTech fanatics, founders, investors, and operators?
Shoot me a message on LinkedIn or send me an e-mail.
Comments ()