Stripe Eschewing IPO…For Now

Stripe is easily one of the biggest names in mobile payment, having made mobile payments truly mobile long before Apple Pay even walked into the market. It’s had a lot of interest from investors, enough to give it a valuation of $9 billion. Any hope of an IPO, however, could be rather forlorn hopes at the end of the day.

Essentially, Stripe approves of its position as a private company, and even as it adds new companies to its roster of companies working with its payment system, it’s not interested in becoming publicly traded for one very simple reason: it has no need to do so.

It doesn’t need the outside investment that an IPO generates, and as such, it doesn’t have to suffer the accompanying loss of internal-only decision making processes that a private company can enjoy.

In fact, Stripe projects no real need to do so any time soon; Stripe only benefits from the growth of online shopping and app-based purchases. The $150 million in private capital raised back in November is set to fuel international expansion efforts and further product development, so it will not only be able to open up new markets readily, but it will also be able to better enjoy the markets it currently has on hand.

Basically, regardless of how much individual investors would like to own a slice of Stripe, Stripe doesn’t need that outside investment. It’s bringing in revenue sufficient to keep its operations merrily rolling along and is rapidly working toward expansion, so why would the company want to dilute its ownership by selling off shares in exchange for cash that it really doesn’t need?

Disappointing news for many, to be sure, especially in an environment where mobile payments are on the rise and rapidly improving. While there are plenty of potential investment opportunities for mobile payments out there, Stripe will likely not be one of these for the foreseeable future.

It may be down the line, in the same way that anything is possible, but don’t look for a Stripe ticker symbol any time soon.