Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Payments giant Stripe has been valued at $159 billion in its tender offer, with new and existing investors including Thrive, Coatue, and a16z.
Why it matters: The company's valuation has jumped from $107 billion last year and the offer is another sign Stripe's in no rush to IPO.
Driving the news: Payments volume on Stripe hit $1.9 trillion in 2025, up 34% compared to the year prior, according to its annual letter.
- President John Collison attributes the payments growth to rising enterprise usage. Microsoft shifted a "significant fraction" of its volumes to Stripe, he says, and other clients include Nvidia and Amazon.
- There's also the rapid growth in AI startups: "The 2025 startup cohort is the strongest, biggest, fastest cohort we've ever seen... it's grown 50% faster than the prior cohorts," he says.
Yes, but: Payments volume serves as an imperfect proxy for the direction of the company's revenue, which it does not disclose. "Stripe remains robustly profitable," the company's annual report read.
Flashback: Axios Pro first broke news of the tender offer in early February, when investors were discussing a valuation of over $140 billion.
- The majority of the sale was provided by the investors, but Stripe is also buying back shares
Zoom out: Stripe has also increasingly been seeking to diversify, with payments being an often lumpy sources of revenue.
- Its fastest growing segment by total dollars in 2025 was its revenue suite — software tools that handle billing, tax, and invoicing automation, per Collison. It's expected to hit a $1 billion annual run rate this year.
The bottom line: Stripe's developer-first approach has made it an index for the tech industry. And tech is currently red hot.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that Stripe is buying back some shares as part of the tender offer.
