Payments startup Stripe landed a new round of funding from investors including American Express, Visa and Sequoia Capital, valuing the San Francisco-based company at $5 billion. According to the announcement, Stripe signed an agreement with Visa to work on digital transactions such as website ‘buy buttons’ and payments security. In January 2015, Kickstarter linked with stripe.
Led by Irish co-founder brothers John Collison and Patrick Collison, last month Stripe released code for e-commerce merchants to add American Express ‘buy button’ signage to the checkout, a move which enables the card scheme to compete on a more even footing with PayPal. With Visa onboard, Stripe hopes not only gain access to a much larger merchant base, but also to grow its business internationally, expanding beyond the 25 countries currently serviced by the company. The value of the funding was not confirmed, but speculation suggests it is near the $100 million mark.
