At the start of the year, analysts expected Stripe, the online payment processing service provider, to go public. Stripe, however, had denied any such plans despite continuing to add to its leadership portfolio. Given the current conditions though, that IPO listing may not be happening soon.

Stripe’s Financials

San Francisco-based Stripe was set up in 2010 by brothers John and Patrick Collison who wanted to set up an online platform to simplify the process of accepting payments for websites and apps. Stripe allows companies to set up credit card processing capabilities on their digital pages by just embedding a simple code.

Stripe earns revenues by charging a fee on the transactions conducted through its platform. It charges a rate of 2.9% of the transaction value plus a commission of $0.30 per transaction. Being privately held, it does not disclose its financials. Recent reports estimate its revenues at $512.4 billion.

Stripe is venture funded so far and has raised $1.6 billion in thirteen rounds from investors including Capital G, Visa, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, Allen & Company, Y Combinator, SV Angel, Aaron Levie, Chris Dixon, Elad Gil, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Andreessen Horowitz. Its last round of funding was held in April this year, when it raised $600 million at a valuation of $35 billion. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Alphabet’s GV, and Sequoia Capital. Stripe’s valuation has seen a steady increase. In 2016, it had raised $150 million at a valuation of $9.2 billion. Prior to that, a July 2015 round had valued it at $5 billion.

Stripe’s Growing Partnerships

Stripe has been expanding its market presence within the enterprise segment through partnerships with other tech giants. Recently, it announced a new partnership with Salesforce. As part of the agreement, Stripe will process payments for Salesforce’s new commerce service called Digital 360. Large Salesforce customers using Digital 360 will have the option to set up their payments-processing for e-commerce through Stripe. Stripe has been focused on attracting larger enterprises and now has an estimated 40 companies processing more than $1 billion in payments over its platform annually.

Earlier this year, it also entered into a partnership with Japan’s international payment brand, JCB. The partnership will enable businesses to accept online payments with JCB using Stripe. Eligible Stripe-powered businesses will also have faster access to JCB funds in their account. Additionally, businesses on Stripe in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, will be able to instantly accept payments from JCB cardholders, thus accelerating commerce between Japan and the rest of the world.

Stripe has been expanding its presence internationally, and tie-ups like those with JCB have helped it leapfrog in some markets. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, the company has grown its international presence and is now available in 39 countries of which 28 are in Europe.

The current pandemic has accelerated the move to a digital economy. Other online payment processing services, like Square and PayPal, have had a strong run so far, delivering robust revenue growth. For the last quarter, Square’s revenues grew to $1.9 billion from $1.2 billion a year ago and PayPal’s revenues grew 23% over the year to $5.3 billion. Both Square and PayPal are listed companies that have seen their stock grow despite the pandemic.

Stripe continues to add leaders in key positions. Recently it announced the addition of Dhivya Suryadevara, former General Motors CFO, as its CFO. It also added Mike Clayville, an ex-AWS executive, as its Chief Revenue Officer. Analysts are still hopeful that the company will list soon. Stripe wants to take it slow and invest in growth instead.