Stripe valued at $20bn following latest funding round

Payments startup Stripe has raised $245m (£188m) in its latest funding round, bringing the firms latest valuation to $20.25bn, a significant boost since its previous valuation of $9.2bn back in 2016. The latest investment will be used to fuel growth in international markets.

Stripe already operates in 25 countries, offering payments and billing services to consumers and companies. It is seeking to tap into markets like Southeast Asia and India, where the booming eCommerce industries are expanding the need for payments technology.

More than 500m people are expected to become online customers in these areas over the next three years, according to Stripe, and with products including credit cards, debit cards and subscription-based billing, the platform is hoping to snare some of these emerging consumers.

Among the firms plans for international expansion are a new engineering hub located in Singapore, and an expanded roster of enterprise customers including Google, Didi Chuxing, Spotify and Uber. It has also recently partnered with Alipay and WeChat Pay to enable merchants using its platform around the world to accept payments from Chinese consumers.

The latest funding round was led by Tiger Global Managerment, the hedge fund run by billionaire investor Chase Coleman. DST Global and Sequoia also participated.

“We think this investment will be helpful as we continue to march upmarket and serve these larger companies,” said John Collison, president and co-founder of Stripe.