Valuation of Stripe founded by Limerick's Collison brothers soars to $20bn

STRIPE, the online payments firm founded by Limerick’s Collison brothers, has seen its valuation soar to $20 billion after its latest funding round.

According to reports, Stripe’s latest funding round raised $245 million, increasing its value from $9bn to $20bn.

The former Castletroy College Students, John and Patrick Collison, are understood to have a combined 25% share in the online payments business, making them the world’s youngest self-made billionaires.

Patrick, CEO of Stripe, confirmed the raise, while new customers are understood to include Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Uber Technologies Inc, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg reports that the new valuation places Stripe among an elite handful of the world’s most valuable private startups, including Airbnb Inc., Palantir Technolgies Inc. and Uber.

Indeed, the reports suggest, Stripe could have raised more money, but, according to Patrick Collison: “We talked to almost nobody.”

“We are lucky in that we’ve been generating revenue from the start and have never been in the position where had to raise money. It’s more about looking a year or two ahead and deciding if we want to stay on the current track or go big on some things,” he explained.

The brothers, who now live in San Francisco, have been making money since their teens – when Patrick won the BT Young Scientist of the Year, aged 16, in 2005.

The online payments firm was established in 2010 and is used by Apple, Twitter, Facebook, and Chinese online company Alipay. After the previous funding round valued the company at $9bn in 2016, the pair were estimated to be Ireland’s youngest billionaires.