Stripe is one of the hottest companies in the start-up world. Brothers Patrick and John Collison founded the company in 2010 to process internet payments. Their start-up quickly caught the attention of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, early co-founders of the companies that became payments processor PayPal (PYPL +4.24%).
Stripe has also attracted the attention of several other venture capital investors who see promise in the company's technology. Their interest has sent the company's private market valuation soaring.
Stripe has become a leading payment processor for merchants, especially those operating online. Its technology allows them to accept credit and debit cards, process payments from mobile wallets, and use buy now, pay later services.
Stripe gets a cut of every payment (a small flat fee and a percentage of the transaction). The company processed more than $1.4 trillion in total payment volume in 2024, a notable increase from $1 trillion from the prior year.
The company is growing rapidly as more merchants use its technology to process payments, driving up its private market valuation. Many more investors wish they could own shares of the highly valued private company.
Here's a look at how to invest in Stripe and factors to consider when evaluating the company.
Is Stripe publicly traded?
As of late 2025, Stripe had yet to complete an initial public offering (IPO). Since it's not publicly traded, you can't buy shares of Stripe on a stock exchange.
Publicly Traded Company
Will Stripe IPO?
As of late 2025, Stripe didn't have an IPO on the calendar. However, the company had taken some initial steps toward an IPO in 2023.
The company was deciding between a direct listing and letting employees sell shares on a secondary market. It hired investment banks Goldman Sachs (GS +0.04%) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM -0.12%) to give it advice on the best path forward.
It opted for the latter route in early 2024, agreeing to a deal that allowed employees to sell their shares to investors at a $65 billion valuation. That deal reduced the near-term pressure to complete an IPO.
But in 2025, Stripe initiated talks to repurchase shares from venture capital backers at a $106.7 billion valuation. This indicates the company isn't planning an IPO anytime soon.
How to invest in Stripe
Although Stripe isn't a publicly traded company, its shares have been available on secondary platforms like EquityBee and Forge Global (FRGE +0.59%). These online platforms enable employees working for a start-up to exercise their stock options and get shares in a company before its IPO, which they can sell to other investors.
The platforms allow accredited investors (i.e., those with a high net worth, high income, or a securities license) to invest in venture capital–backed start-ups. Accredited investors on EquityBee, for example, fund employee stock options, allowing them to own stakes in private companies at previous valuations. Investors then receive a percentage of the future sales of these options when the company completes a liquidity event, like an IPO.
Accredited Investor
Should I invest in Stripe?
While you can't invest in Stripe yet, following are some factors to consider about the company if it does complete an IPO in the future.
Is Stripe profitable?
As a private company, Stripe doesn't have to release its financial data regularly like publicly traded companies do. However, there is some information that we know about Stripe. In its 2024 annual letter, the company announced it was profitable in 2024. An Irish news outlet reported Stripe had pre-tax profits of $101.9 in 2024. That's a major swing from the pre-tax losses of $1.2 billion the year before.
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Stripe's revenue
Stripe doesn't publicly disclose its revenue. However, a report stated that Stripe boosted its revenue in 2024 by 34%, from $3.8 billion to $5.1 billion, thanks to adding new or expanding existing partnerships with companies such as Nvidia and Best Buy.
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