Stripe

Stripe’s Unparalleled Growth: Total Payment Volume Soars Past $1T

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Stripe is sufficiently large that when we consider its growth we have to weigh it against the overall growth in the payment space more generally. Major growth pointsIn its annual missive, Stripe noted that it crossed the $1 trillion total payment volume metric in 2023, a figure that is large, and round, if imprecise. Certainly the threshold is notable, but when paired with recent growth figures becomes all the more impressive. Stripe said that in 2023 its payment volume rose 25%. Any company processing that much total payment volume through Stripe could build their own in-house stack, or pursue a more DIY option.

Is Stripe’s IPO inevitable before achieving AGI?

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Will we reach AGI before Stripe goes public? This is our Friday episode, when we dig back through the most critical stories and themes from the week. Here’s what Mary Ann and Alex got into:Stripe’s valuation recovers: As part of a tender offer, Stripe is now worth $65 billion. As part of a tender offer, Stripe is now worth $65 billion. AI and the law: Microsoft’s move to invest in French AI company Mistral is not a bad way to spread its bets.

“Record-Breaking Employee Stock-Sale Deal Boosts Fintech Powerhouse Stripe’s Valuation to $65B”

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Payments infrastructure giant Stripe said today it has inked deals with investors to provide liquidity to current and former employees through a tender offer at a $65 billion valuation. Notably, the valuation represents a 30% increase compared to what Stripe was valued at last March when it raised $6.5 billion in Series I funding at a $50 billion valuation. But it is also still lower than the $95 billion valuation achieved in March of 2021. A Stripe IPO has been long anticipated and was widely expected to happen in 2024. But with this deal, it appears that an initial public offering may not take place until next year.

“IT Company Clerk Secures $30 Million in Funding and Forms Key Partnership with Stripe”

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The proceeds bring Clerk’s total raised to $55.5 million, and co-founder and CEO Colin Sidoti says that they’ll be put toward expanding Clerk’s service beyond authentication and into authorization — i.e. Clerk builds developer tools for authentication, offering drop-in components coded in React, the open source frontend JavaScript library. “Despite authentication and authorization being ubiquitous challenges across every software company, they have been exceptionally slow to become outsourced,” Colin said. “When you ask developers why, they often highlight that authentication and authorization are too tightly-coupled to the rest of their application to outsource. The integration is motivated in part by the investment from Stripe, which Colin says marks the beginning of a “strategic partnership” between the two firms.

“Navier Announces Exciting Collaboration with Stripe: Bringing Electric Boat Commuting Options to Remote Employees”

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Electric boat startup Navier has landed the first official pilot program for its hydrofoiling watercraft, partnering with Stripe to bring passengers from San Francisco’s outskirts to the downtown area. Stripe will pay Navier to shuttle employees from Larkspur, where a number of them are concentrated, to its office near Oyster Point. But as a pilot program, the intent is not to operate at scale but to identify the means of and barriers to that scale. Other coastal cities with commute problems may take notice if the pilot program goes well. “We’re introducing a water shuttle service equipped with amenities that enhance on-the-go productivity, such as desks and Wi-Fi.

Mistakes by Carta and the Volatile Week of Real Estate Fintech

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In this edition, I’m going to look at some hits and misses in the real estate fintech space, Carta’s missteps (again), and more! A prominent customer accused Carta of misusing sensitive information that startups entrust to the company in pursuit of its own goals. Meanwhile, Alex and Anna argued that Carta’s growth story is being overshadowed by its stock trading snafu. Analysis of the weekThe real estate fintech space continues to have its ups and downs. I also reported this week on Downpayments’ mission to help investors purchase new properties with interest-free down payments.

“Pier Secures $2.4 Million to Unveil Revolutionary ‘Credit Stripe’ System”

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“Pier is building ‘Stripe for credit,’ which is a way for companies to automate their own credit products.”Here’s how it works: Developers add Pier’s APIs with a few lines of codes, saving months of labor and millions of dollars, Zhang said. Pier’s technology then manages the credit lifecycle from end-to-end, including origination, underwriting, compliance and servicing. Other companies have also claimed to be “Stripe for credit,” for example, Setpoint, a startup that developed software for faster loan transactions. Even Stripe itself created new credit products for businesses about six months ago. Other solutions out there address specific components of the lifecycle, like underwriting or Know Your Customer, while Pier provides a more comprehensive offering.

“$1.5M Pre-Seed Raised by Cleva, an African Fintech Supported by Y Combinator and Former Stripe & AWS Members”

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Nigerian fintech Cleva, focused on creating a banking platform for African individuals and businesses to receive international payments by opening USD accounts, has raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding. “The team is uniquely qualified to address this given their experience building banking products at Stripe and robust platforms at AWS. Both founders share a strong connection with the African market. (It’s worth highlighting that while Cleva exclusively provides USD accounts, other players offer GBP and EUR accounts.) Meanwhile, the YC-backed startup, which generates revenue when users swap and exchange their funds (in USD accounts) for the local currency (in naira for now), also charges a 0.9% fee on deposits into customers’ USD accounts.

Secondary Stripe Deal: A Deal Dive Not to Miss

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The investors surveyed clearly aren’t the only ones who are excited about a potential Stripe exit in 2024, either. According to secondary data tracker Caplight, there has been an absolute flurry of buyers looking to get shares in the company in recent months. On Tuesday, literally the day after New Year’s Day, a secondary sale closed that valued Stripe shares at $21.06 apiece; that values the startup at $53.65 billion, according to Caplight data. There are a few reasons why this deal is worth paying attention to. For one, Stripe’s $53 billion value marks an increase from the company’s most recent primary round last March, when Stripe was valued at $50 billion.