{"id":9239,"date":"2026-07-16T13:51:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T10:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/stripes-acquisition-pace-has-accelerated-in-the-past-five-years-but-nothing-comes-close-to-its-reported-53b-paypal-bet\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T13:51:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T10:51:24","slug":"stripes-acquisition-pace-has-accelerated-in-the-past-five-years-but-nothing-comes-close-to-its-reported-53b-paypal-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/stripes-acquisition-pace-has-accelerated-in-the-past-five-years-but-nothing-comes-close-to-its-reported-53b-paypal-bet\/","title":{"rendered":"Stripe\u2019s Acquisition Pace Has Accelerated In The Past Five Years, But Nothing Comes Close To Its Reported $53B PayPal Bet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Payments giant Stripe<\/a> and private equity firm Advent International<\/a> have teamed up to make an offer to buy troubled PayPal<\/a> in a deal valued at more than $53 billion, Reuters reported<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The purported deal, which has been rumored for months, is notable not just for its scale \u2014 it would be one of the largest acquisitions of a technology company in recent years \u2014 but also for its highly unusual nature. Privately held startups typically lack the cash, publicly traded shares and debt capacity to acquire their publicly listed brethren.<\/p>\n

Of course, Stripe is not just any privately held company. The fintech startup was, until just a few short years ago, the highest valued startup based in the U.S., before being eclipsed on that metric by AI labs Anthropic<\/a> and OpenAI<\/a>. In February, the company announced it had inked deals with investors to provide liquidity to current and former employees through a tender offer at a $159 billion valuation<\/a>, which still ranks<\/a> it as the fourth most valuable startup in the world.<\/p>\n

With substantial private capital \u2014 it has raised some $10.4 billion since inception, per Crunchbase<\/a> \u2014\u00a0Stripe has long been one of the most acquisitive venture-backed startups. It has made 21 known acquisitions<\/a> since its 2010 inception, according to Crunchbase data. Only three have disclosed prices: stablecoin platform Bridge<\/a> at $1.1 billion (2025), usage-based billing software startup Metronome<\/a> at $1 billion (2026), and Nigerian payments startup Paystack<\/a> at $200 million (2020).<\/p>\n

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Stripe\u2019s M&A pace has also accelerated sharply since 2020, Crunchbase data shows, with 13 of its 21 acquisitions announced since then.<\/p>\n

Its recent strategy appears to be focused on stablecoins and crypto infrastructure \u2014 Bridge, Privy<\/a>, Valora<\/a> and PartyDAO<\/a> \u2014\u00a0as well as on billing and money movement through Metronome, payment processing startup Lemon Squeezy<\/a> and Orum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If the plan to buy PayPal does go through, it will most certainly make Stripe an even more formidable player in the crowded payments space.<\/p>\n

It would also rank as one of the largest acquisitions of a U.S. tech company, public or private, of the past five years, according to Crunchbase data, trailing only a handful of larger deals including VMWare\u2019s<\/a> $61 billion purchase of Broadcom<\/a> in 2022 and SpaceX<\/a>\u2019s acquisition<\/a> of AI coding platform Cursor and its parent, Anysphere<\/a>, for $60 billion last month.<\/p>\n

Related Crunchbase queries:<\/h2>\n