Why Enterprises and Startups Alike Bet on Stripe’s Platform

Since being founded 15 years ago, Stripe has evolved from a developer-friendly payments API into a comprehensive financial infrastructure platform that underpins a significant slice of global digital commerce.

Last year, the company processed US$1.9tn in total payment volume, up 34% year on year, and reported net revenue of US$6.8bn with US$3.2bn in free cash flow.

Valued at US$159bn in a February 2026 tender offer, Stripe now ranks among the world’s most valuable private companies, powering payments for 90% of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and 80% of the Nasdaq 100 – showcasing just how deeply its expanding suite of payments, billing, treasury and risk tools has been embedded into core operations.

From payments API to financial operating system

Stripe’s origin story is a well-told one: Irish brothers John and Patrick Collison launched the company in 2010 to make online payments as simple as copying seven lines of code.

That developer-first ethos remains central to Stripe to this day, but the product has broadened into what the Collisons describe as “programmable financial services” for more than five million businesses in the company’s 2025 annual letter.

The duo says this includes “all of the top AI companies, many of the largest blue-chip companies… and a significant fraction of freshly minted startups.”

Today, Stripe’s core payments stack is complemented by Billing, which manages nearly 200 million active subscriptions, as well as Tax across 57 countries, Treasury and banking-as-a-service offerings, alongside a Revenue and Finance Automation suite on track for a US$1bn annual run rate by the end of the year.

AI, agents and the next wave of commerce

Stripe’s product cadence has accelerated alongside the AI boom.

At Stripe Sessions 2026 in April, President of Technology and Business Will Gaybrick unveiled 288 new products aimed at treating AI agents as economic participants rather than back-office tools.

Central to this are Link wallets for AI agents, which enable one-time-use card authorisations so agents can purchase services without exposing full payment credentials to merchants or the agents themselves.

Patrick Collison has been explicit about his own stance on AI and writing, saying: “I still write myself. Like, I both philosophically but also specifically, substantively, dislike the writing of the models.”

Operationally, however, Stripe is leaning into AI to improve fraud detection, adaptive acceptance and revenue optimisation, recovering a record US$6bn in false declines in 2024.

Global scale, local nuance for incumbents and founders

Stripe’s growth is not just a US story. In 2025, the economic output of businesses using Stripe contributed an estimated 1.6% of global GDP, up from 1.3% the year before.

The company now serves merchants in more than 50 countries, supports in excess of 135 currencies and more than 100 payment methods, all while significant acquisitions to deepen local capability – from Paystack in Africa to Bridge for stablecoin infrastructure.

And, in August 2026, Stripe expanded multicurrency settlement and introduced instant currency conversion, allowing businesses in 37 markets to settle in up to 18 currencies and convert between 15 currencies at transparent pricing by the end of the year.

This is important as Stripe’s customer base spans hypergrowth startups and legacy enterprises.

More than 100 Stripe customers now process more than US$1bn annually, while Stripe Atlas has incorporated in excess of 100,000 companies, accounting for 25% of all Delaware corporations.

Patrick told Y Combinator’s Startup School in July 2026 that new businesses starting on Stripe are up roughly 2x year on year, the largest relative jump the company has ever recorded.

He attributed part of this to a shift in enterprise procurement: “The risk of the status quo is actually extremely high… I really think there’s never been a better time for startups to sell.”

Stripe’s trajectory signals a broader shift: payments are no longer a utility to be outsourced, but a strategic layer that shapes product, pricing, risk and global expansion.

With robust profitability, a US$159bn valuation and a relentless product roadmap spanning AI agents, stablecoins and instant FX, Stripe is setting the template for what a modern financial operating system looks like.

President, Technology and Business