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Stripe boss Patrick Collison
Photo: Manuel Blondeau / Corbis via Getty Images
The payment platform Stripe has reached a valuation of 95 billion dollars in its latest financing round - more than the former rising stars Facebook and Uber before their IPOs.
Stripe, which handles payments for companies, raised another $ 600 million from investors.
The overall rating results from the share in the company the investors got for their money.
Stripe was already considered the most valuable, unlisted financial start-up (fintech) in the world.
Stripe wants to use the cash injection, among other things, for accelerated expansion in other countries, as the company announced.
Investors include insurers Allianz and Axa, venture capitalists Sequoia and the Irish government's investment fund.
San Francisco-based Stripe was founded in 2010 by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison.
"We're investing a lot more in Europe this year, especially at our second headquarters in Dublin," said John Collison.
In Germany, too, Stripe plans to further expand its business this year.
The company is currently active in 42 countries, including 31 in Europe.
Stripe processes all types of payments, such as smartphone payments or classic direct debits.
A small part of the transaction volume receives the Stripe fee.
Customers include the transport service providers Uber and Lyft, the food delivery service Deliveroo and Twitter.
In the last round of funding in April 2020, Stripe was valued at $ 36 billion.
But in the corona pandemic, online business experienced a strong boost - and Stripe also benefited from it.
The new valuation is very high for an unlisted company.
Facebook hit the $ 80 billion mark before going public in 2012, and Uber hit a good $ 70 billion before the share placement.
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