Stripe payments surge 25pc, exceeding $1 trillion

In the brothers’ annual letter about Stripe, the payments industry and related issues, the Collison brothers said that their total payment volume in 2023 was up 25pc from 2022 and now compares to 1pc of global GDP.

“Stripe was robustly cash flow positive in 2023 and expects to be again in 2024,” the brothers said in the letter. “This threshold is important, because it allows us to invest for the long term, building what we believe our users need 10 years from now, without regard for the natural volatility of capital markets.”

Stripe was last privately valued at $50bn when it landed a $6.1bn funding round a year ago. The company’s valuation has fluctuated, from $95bn in 2021 to reports of a $65bn valuation earlier this year. It is one of the most-watched private tech firms among investors anticipating an IPO.

In the annual letter, the Collisons said that the company doubled the number of payment methods supported to over 100. The letter added that the more than 100 companies now process more than $1 billion per year with Stripe.

New customers, or updated deals, include Hertz, Airbn, Uber and Eventbrite, the letter said.

Over a four-day Black Friday period in November, Stripe hit a new record volume of $18.6bn, with 31,000 Stripe customers recording their “best day ever”, according to the annual letter.

Stripe has also seen an influx of AI companies, the Collisons said.

"Twice as many Al companies went live on Stripe compared to 2022, including new trailblazers like Perplexity and Mistral,” according to the letter.

“They join leaders like OpenAl, Anthropic, and Midjourney, which continue to expand their offerings and launch new products with Stripe. Aggregate revenue from Al companies grew by 249pc in 2023, and, of course, Al was a major tailwind for countless companies across Stripe that do not self-identify as Al companies per se."

Patrick and John Collison also paid tribute to Charlie Munger, the business partner of Warren Buffett who passed away last November at the age of 99.

“We sadly lost Charlie Munger last November,” the letter said.

“Few better articulated a complete philosophy of business [which is] an interdisciplinary mindset, patience, due regard for incentives, relentless elevation of substance over appearances, an uncompromising view of integrity, and, above all, mutually beneficial value creation as a lodestone.”