The payment processing unicorn Stripe has joined the Silicon Valley elite after netting a $250m funding round and a $35bn valuation.
The new valuation is a serious increase from in January when Stripe hit a $22.5bn valuation through an investment from Tiger Global, the venture capital firm.
Investors backing Stripe’s new Series F funding round included VC firms General Catalyst, Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz, among others.
Stripe will use the money to accelerate its growth in three key areas. Firstly, Stripe will speed up the FinTech unicorn’s international expansion to cover 40 countries covering 70% of the global economy, with more to be announced in 2020.
Secondly, it will scale product suite, investing heavily in the Global Payments and Treasury Network as well as its growing range of software and services.
Thirdly, Stripe will extend its enterprise capabilities for both emerging enterprises online as well as for more established international companies.
“Even now, in 2019, less than 8% of commerce happens online,” said John Collison (pictured), president and co-founder of Stripe. “We’re investing now to build the infrastructure that’ll power internet commerce in 2030 and beyond. If we get it right, we can help the internet fulfill its potential as an engine for global economic progress.”
The news comes after Stripe warned in June that Europe could lose €57bn in economic activity in the first year after Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) took effect. The new rules were part of the EU’s Revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2) and would require companies to introduce two-tier verifications of electronic payments. Stripe’s study found that only 40% were prepared for the new rules to be enforced on September 14.
However, Barclaycard unveiled another study this week that said that there has not been a decline in transactions after the implementation of SCA. At least not yet.
Earlier this summer General Catalyst invested in employee benefits company Gusto’s $200m Series D round, digital bank Monzo’s £113m round and also participated in FinTech startup CRED’s $120m funding round.
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