Payment services firm Visa provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based mobile payment technology provider Stripe yesterday as part of a strategic partnership.
Stripe supplied the money as part of a larger series D round that included another payment services provider, American Express, as well as Sequoia Capital and General Catalyst Partners, according to Fortune, adding that Stripe raised the money at a $5bn valuation.
Founded in 2011, Stripe has developed an easy-to-use payment processing platform for online merchants. It currently processes payments in 20 companies and maintains offices in nine.
Visa and Stripe will work together on online and mobile payment technology, linking it to new e-commerce innovations such as ‘buy buttons’. Stripe will also be able to link its developer community to Visa’s services and technology.
The funding will be used to accelerate Stripe’s global growth, particularly in emerging markets where it can leverage Visa’s existing relationships.
Prior to the latest round, Stripe had raised about $190m in funding, most recently securing $70m from Thrive Capital, Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures in December 2014 at a $3.5bn valuation.
The company’s backers also include Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, SV Angel, PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, Elad Gil, Chris Dixon and Aaron Levie.
Visa is already an active participant in funding online payment companies, having backed Square, which has confidentially filed to go public, and it exited LoopPay in February this year when it was acquired for $250m by electronics manufacturer Samsung.
Jim McCarthy, Visa’s executive vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships, said: “Given the explosive growth of new commerce experiences enabled by a global developer community, Visa is expanding its strategic relationships across the payments ecosystem.
“We are very excited to work with Stripe and leverage our combined assets to broaden our offering to new types of merchants and developers globally.”