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Key Metrics
Revenue run-rate
~$1B (beyond core payments, on track for 2026)
Company Snapshot
Stripe is a Fintech company, based in San Francisco, California, USA, founded 2010 by Patrick Collison, John Collison. Latest valuation ~$159B (As of Feb 2026, CNBC — Stripe $159B tender (Feb 2026)).
Recent changes
- Aug 19, 2026Aug 19, 2026Stripe-OpenRouter Deal Confirmed at $7.5B, Final Terms Revealed Pulse story
- Aug 17, 2026Aug 17, 2026Stripe Pays Over $7 Billion for AI Router OpenRouter Pulse story
- Aug 17, 2026Aug 17, 2026Stripe Acquires AI Gateway OpenRouter for $7B+ Pulse story
- Aug 16, 2026Aug 16, 2026Stripe Buys OpenRouter in $7B AI Gateway Deal Pulse story
- Aug 14, 2026Aug 14, 2026PayPal-Stripe-Advent Buyout Talks Heat Up Again Pulse story
Earlier changes (9)
- Jul 24, 2026Jul 24, 2026Stripe in Talks to Buy OpenRouter for $10B Pulse story
- Jul 20, 2026Jul 20, 2026PayPal's Board Meets Today to Weigh Stripe's $53B Bid Pulse story
- Jul 15, 2026Jul 15, 2026Stripe's Deal Pace Accelerates With Reported $53B PayPal Bet Pulse story
- Jun 5, 2026Jun 5, 2026Invested in Supabase (Series F, $500M) TechCrunch
- Feb 24, 2026Feb 24, 2026Tender offer for an undisclosed amount Value Add Pulse enrichment
- Feb 2026Feb 2026First reported valuation: ~$159BEstimated CNBC — Stripe $159B tender (Feb 2026)
- 20262026First reported run rate: ~$1B (beyond core payments, on track for 2026)Estimated CNBC — Stripe $159B tender (Feb 2026)
- Feb 27, 2025Feb 27, 2025Tender offer for an undisclosed amount Value Add Pulse enrichment
- Mar 15, 2023Mar 15, 2023Raised $6.5B Series I at a $50B valuation Value Add Pulse enrichment
Funding History
3 events · sources dated per row| Date | Event | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 24, 2026 | tender offer | — | $159B | Value Add Pulse research | |
| Feb 27, 2025 | tender offer | — | $91.5B | Value Add Pulse research | |
| Mar 15, 2023 | Series I | $6.5B | $50B | Value Add Pulse research |
Investors
Latest Pulse
- Oct 13, 2026Scuba Raises $34M To Build AI's 'Context Engine'Scuba, founded by ex-Slack CPO Noah Desai Weiss and former Browser Company engineering lead Dolapo Falola, raised $34M across two rounds for a workplace 'context engine' that feeds data to both humans and AI agents.→
- Oct 13, 2026Amex Builds Guardrails To Stop Rogue AI Agent PurchasesAmerican Express unveiled its Intent Intelligence Framework, which verifies what a customer told an AI shopping agent to buy before the agent can complete a purchase, aiming to prevent unauthorized transactions as agentic commerce scales.→
- Oct 6, 2026Sigil Wen's Underdog Challenges Instinct On PrivacySigil Wen, a Thiel Fellow who once worked alongside Perplexity's Aravind Srinivas and OpenAI's Noam Brown, launched Underdog, a privacy-focused AI assistant that runs entirely on-device.→
- Sep 22, 2026Baselayer Raises $35M To Verify AI AgentsBaselayer raised a $35 million Series A led by M13 to launch identity verification for AI agents transacting with financial institutions, extending a fraud-prevention network that already covers more than 2,300 banks and payments companies.→
- Sep 9, 2026Clay Closes $115M Series D At $7.1BClay's AI go-to-market platform closed a $115 million Series D at a $7.1 billion valuation led by Wellington, confirming the $7 billion pre-money mark reported as a rumor eleven days earlier.→
- Sep 9, 2026TRM Labs Valuation Doubles To $2 BillionTRM Labs raised fresh capital from existing backers at a $2 billion valuation, doubling its worth six months after a $70 million Series C, as the blockchain-intelligence firm expands into AI-driven crime detection.→
- Sep 4, 2026Anthropic Ships a Blueprint for Claude Shopping AgentsAnthropic published developer scaffolding for agents that browse catalogs, manage carts and complete checkout, arriving well ahead of consumer willingness to let software spend their money.→
- Sep 4, 2026One of Eight IPO Candidates Just Actually FiledCrunchbase named eight startups as 2026's clearest IPO candidates two days ago; since then, exactly one -- Oura -- has converted to an actual public S-1, while the other seven remain unfiled.→
- Sep 2, 2026Eight Startups Racing a Closing 2026 IPO WindowCrunchbase identified eight startups -- including Anthropic, Oura, Notion, Kraken and SambaNova -- as candidates for a narrowing 2026 IPO window, with SpaceX's record June listing as the template.→
- Aug 31, 2026Bolt Raises Up to $27M to Survive Its Own CollapseBolt is raising up to $27 million in punitive pay-to-play bridge financing to survive after its valuation collapsed 97% from an $11 billion peak.→
Coverage Timeline
newest first- Aug 29, 2026REGULATIONTariffs Just Entered Every AI Infrastructure Deal→
- Aug 28, 2026BIG TECHStripe Walks Away From Its $53B PayPal Bid→
- Aug 28, 2026AIOpen-Weight Labs Become the Valley's Acquisition Target$26B+ in deals→
- Aug 20, 2026IPOWhy I'd Rather Back the Acquirer Than Wait for the IPO→
- Aug 20, 2026FUNDINGInside OpenRouter's Cap Table Ahead of a Sale→
- Aug 20, 2026BIG TECHWhat $67B in AI Buyouts Says About Where Value Is Moving→
- Aug 19, 2026BIG TECHStripe-OpenRouter Deal Confirmed at $7.5B, Final Terms Revealed$7.5B acquisition→
- Aug 18, 2026AIWarp Ships an Out-of-the-Box AI Software Factory→
- Aug 17, 2026BIG TECHStripe Pays Over $7 Billion for AI Router OpenRouter$7B+→
- Aug 17, 2026BIG TECHStripe Acquires AI Gateway OpenRouter for $7B+$7B+ acquisition→
- Aug 17, 2026IPOAI's Best Exits Are Trades, Not Listings$7B+ largest AI trade sale→
- Aug 16, 2026BIG TECHStripe Buys OpenRouter in $7B AI Gateway Deal$7B+ acquisition→
- Aug 14, 2026BIG TECHPayPal-Stripe-Advent Buyout Talks Heat Up Again$53B (prior bid)→
- Jul 28, 2026BIG TECHPayPal Leaves Door Open To Higher Buyout Offer$53B+ bid→
- Jul 24, 2026AIStripe in Talks to Buy OpenRouter for $10B$10B Acquisition Talks→
- Jul 21, 2026IPOGoldman Sachs Launches Private Markets Platform for Rich Investors→
- Jul 21, 2026IPOGoldman Sachs Builds Private Markets Platform to Chase the Next SpaceX→
- Jul 20, 2026FUNDINGNatural Raises $30M to Build Payments Rails for AI Agents$30M Series A→
- Jul 20, 2026FUNDINGNatural Raises $30M to Build Payment Rails for AI Agents$30M Series A→
- Jul 20, 2026BIG TECHPayPal's Board Meets Today to Weigh Stripe's $53B Bid$53.4B buyout bid→
- Jul 15, 2026IPOStripe's Deal Pace Accelerates With Reported $53B PayPal Bet~$53B reported deal→
All Coverage
12 most recent shown — all 21 stories are in the timeline above
REGULATION
Tariffs Just Entered Every AI Infrastructure Deal
A proposed expansion of chip tariffs to laptops, servers and consoles lands the same week OpenAI's chip beat Nvidia's Blackwell in benchmarks and Stripe dropped its $53B PayPal bid -- three signs AI just got costlier to build and buy into.
DEEP DIVE
Stripe Walks Away From Its $53B PayPal Bid
BIG TECH
Stripe Walks Away From Its $53B PayPal Bid
The Stripe-Advent consortium has dropped its pursuit of PayPal after a 40% stock rally priced the group's $60.50-a-share, roughly $53 billion offer out of reach for what would have been one of the largest leveraged buyouts ever.
FOLLOW-UP
Open-Weight Labs Become the Valley's Acquisition Target
AI$26B+ in deals
Open-Weight Labs Become the Valley's Acquisition Target
Nvidia's reported $13 billion Hugging Face agreement, its $6 billion Poolside deal and Stripe's $7 billion-plus OpenRouter purchase have consolidated the open-model layer, even as enterprise adoption sits at 6%.
FOLLOW-UP
Why I'd Rather Back the Acquirer Than Wait for the IPO
IPO
Why I'd Rather Back the Acquirer Than Wait for the IPO
Between Stripe buying OpenRouter and SpaceX buying Anysphere, $67.5B moved through M&A in six weeks. Anthropic's IPO won't price until November at the earliest. As an early check-writer, I'd rather back the company doing the buying.
THE VC READ
Inside OpenRouter's Cap Table Ahead of a Sale
FUNDING
Inside OpenRouter's Cap Table Ahead of a Sale
Newcomer's deep dive into OpenRouter's cap table shows how quickly the AI model-routing startup's ownership structure evolved en route to Stripe's roughly $7.5B acquisition, with early seed investors sitting on outsized returns.
FOLLOW-UP
What $67B in AI Buyouts Says About Where Value Is Moving
BIG TECH
What $67B in AI Buyouts Says About Where Value Is Moving
Stripe's $7.5B OpenRouter deal and SpaceX's $60B Anysphere buyout total $67.5B in AI M&A in six weeks, while Etched's $21B venture valuation shows the same distribution/infrastructure bet playing out in funding rounds too.
DEEP DIVE
Stripe-OpenRouter Deal Confirmed at $7.5B, Final Terms Revealed
BIG TECH$7.5B acquisition
Stripe-OpenRouter Deal Confirmed at $7.5B, Final Terms Revealed
Stripe's acquisition of AI model gateway OpenRouter is now confirmed at roughly $7.5B, with $1.5B going to founders and $6B to investors -- a 5.4x markup over its three-month-old Series B valuation.
FOLLOW-UP
Warp Ships an Out-of-the-Box AI Software Factory
AI
Warp Ships an Out-of-the-Box AI Software Factory
Warp launched Warp Factories, an infrastructure layer that packages the agent loops, memory, evals and cloud orchestration behind the software-factory model that Stripe and Ramp built in house.
DEEP DIVE
Stripe Pays Over $7 Billion for AI Router OpenRouter
BIG TECH$7B+
Stripe Pays Over $7 Billion for AI Router OpenRouter
Stripe finalized a deal to acquire OpenRouter, the AI model routing startup, for more than $7 billion -- over 5x the $1.3 billion valuation OpenRouter carried three months ago after its Series B.
DEEP DIVE
Stripe Acquires AI Gateway OpenRouter for $7B+
BIG TECH$7B+ acquisition
Stripe Acquires AI Gateway OpenRouter for $7B+
Stripe agreed to acquire AI model gateway OpenRouter for more than $7 billion, roughly five times the $1.3 billion valuation OpenRouter carried in May, turning a payments company into the metering and billing layer for AI token consumption.
DEEP DIVE
AI's Best Exits Are Trades, Not Listings
IPO$7B+ largest AI trade sale
AI's Best Exits Are Trades, Not Listings
Stripe's $7 billion purchase of OpenRouter, SpaceX's Cursor deal and consolidation among eVTOL makers point to strategic acquisition replacing the public offering as the primary liquidity path for AI-era companies.
DEEP DIVE
Stripe Buys OpenRouter in $7B AI Gateway Deal
BIG TECH$7B+ acquisition
Stripe Buys OpenRouter in $7B AI Gateway Deal
Stripe has agreed to acquire OpenRouter, the routing layer that lets developers switch between AI models through one API, for more than $7 billion -- roughly five times the $1.3 billion valuation OpenRouter carried in May.
DEEP DIVE
Value Add Research
- AI & Technology · Aug 28, 2026Stripe OpenRouter Acquisition: $8B Price, 6x Valuation Jump
- Market & Trends · Jun 10, 2026Stripe vs Adyen vs Braintree: Which Is Cheapest? (2026)
- Market & Trends · Jun 7, 2026Stripe IPO 2026: $159B Valuation and $1.9T Volume
- Startup Operations · May 26, 2026Stripe (2.9%) vs Paddle/Lemon Squeezy (5%) for SaaS
- Startup Operations · Oct 15, 2026Ramp vs Stripe in 2026: Spend vs Payments
- Growth & Marketing · Sep 11, 2026Clay Valuation 2026: $7.1B After $115M Series D Closes
- Market & Trends · Sep 3, 2026Félix Pago Valuation: Undisclosed After $200M Series C (2026)
- VC & Investing · Sep 2, 2026Josh Kushner: How Thrive Capital Became Tech's Most Important Firm
Related Companies
The VC Read
Stripe is the rare megacap that has earned the right to stay private — profitable, growing 30%+ on a $1.9T base, with tender offers giving employees liquidity without the public-market microscope. The interesting tell is the software run-rate hitting ~$1B: payments is the wedge, but the suite is the margin story, and it's what would eventually justify a trillion-dollar IPO whenever they decide they want one.
How Stripe makes money
Stripe makes money primarily by taking a small cut of payment volume — roughly 2.9% + $0.30 on a US online card transaction, with custom pricing at scale. On $1.9 trillion of 2025 total payment volume (about 1.6% of global GDP), even thin per-transaction economics compound into an enormous, growing revenue base.
On top of payments it sells a software suite — Billing, Connect, Radar (fraud), Tax, Issuing, Terminal, and Treasury — plus newer stablecoin and agentic-commerce bets. That suite, on track for roughly a $1B run-rate, is the higher-margin layer that turns Stripe from a payments processor into financial infrastructure.
Competitors
- Adyen — The public enterprise/global processing rival.
- PayPal / Braintree — Developer payments and consumer wallet distribution.
- Block (Square) — In-person and SMB payments.
- Checkout.com — Large global merchant processing.
Profile sources (verified 2026-08-25): CNBC — Stripe $159B tender (Feb 2026) · Stripe 2025 Annual Letter · PYMNTS — Stripe reaches record valuation, $1.9T volume · Bloomberg — Collison says no 'rush' to go public (Jan 2026)
Stripe FAQ
How does Stripe make money?
Mainly by charging a percentage fee on payment volume (around 2.9% + $0.30 per US online card transaction) and selling a software suite — Billing, Connect, Radar, Tax, Issuing, Terminal, and Treasury.
What is Stripe's valuation?
Stripe's valuation is ~$159B (As of Feb 2026, CNBC — Stripe $159B tender (Feb 2026)).
Who are Stripe's investors?
Stripe's investors include Alkeon Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, BoxGroup, Coatue Management, Designer Fund, and 10 more (As of Feb 2026).
Sources & methodologyshow
Where these figures come from
- CNBC — Stripe $159B tender (Feb 2026)major outlet2 facts
- Value Add Pulse researchValue Add VC data3 facts
Figures are labelled Reported (a source states it), Estimated, Derived (computed from other facts) or Rumored (in talks / unconfirmed). Rumors never replace a confirmed figure. Each figure keeps its own as-of date; history is preserved rather than overwritten.