Web payments firm Stripe plans to hire 1000 new staff in Dublin over the next five years on the back of a fresh $600 million funding round.
Primary investors include Allianz X, Axa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sequoia Capital, and Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).
The fundraising values Stripe at $95bn, more than two and a half times what it was valued this time last year when it raised $600m at a valuation of $36bn.
The company says it will use the capital to invest in its European operations, and its Dublin headquarters in particular, support surging demand from enterprise heavyweights across Europe, and expand its Global Payments and Treasury Network.
Stripe already employs around 300 staff in Dublin, which acts as its international headquarters, and 3000 globally in 14 offices, with operations in 43 countries.
“We’re investing a ton more in Europe this year, particularly in Ireland,” says John Collison, president and co-founder of Stripe. “Whether in fintech, mobility, retail or SaaS, the growth opportunity for the European digital economy is immense.“
Stripe currently counts more than 50 companies that each process over $1 billion annually as customers. Enterprise revenue is now both Stripe’s largest and its fastest growing segment, more than doubling year over year.
“Most people underappreciate Stripe’s global scale and leading ability to serve the most complex enterprise customers,” says Timothy Chiodo head of payments and fintech research at Crédit Suisse. ”Stripe’s global scale and market reach continues to expand and they are a now a leader and gaining meaningful share in the enterprise segment.”
The firm plans to double down on its enterprise capabilities in 2021, connecting with ERP systems and expanding to millions of more businesses in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Thailand and the UAE.
“We’re investing in the infrastructure that will power internet commerce in 2030 and beyond,” says Dhivya Suryadevara, Stripe’s chief financial officer. “The pandemic taught us many things about society, including how much can be achieved, and paid for, online, but the internet still isn’t the engine for global economic progress that it could be. While Stripe already processes hundreds of billions of dollars per year for millions of businesses worldwide, the opportunity ahead is much larger for Stripe than it was when the company was started 10 years ago.”