Stripe: 159 billion dollars, 1.9 trillion in volume, and a company in no hurry to list

By Unicorn Private Research. Published and last updated 26 September 2026.

Of all the companies in this set, Stripe has the most control over how its valuation is set. Once a year it runs a tender offer: investors it selects, and Stripe itself for a portion, buy shares from current and former employees at an agreed price, and that price becomes the reference. On 24 February 2026 it implied 159 billion dollars.

The figures the company published

Stripe also said it stayed robustly profitable while spending heavily on product development. No audited accounts were published, and a founders' letter is not a prospectus. Still, it is the company speaking, not a press estimate, and that puts it ahead of most of what you get on private companies.

Why the tender offer structure matters

A tender offer run by the company is not a funding round. It changes what the valuation means, in three ways.

1. The price is agreed between the company and a small group of investors it invites, not discovered in an open market. It says less about what any other buyer would pay.
2. It takes away the main internal push for an IPO. Employees who want cash get it every year. Nobody inside is waiting for a listing.
3. It gives a visible, recent reference price. Secondary trades in Stripe are easier to benchmark than in companies whose last price is years old.

Where an IPO stands

No filing, no date. The February 2026 announcement did not mention going public at all. A profitable company that arranges its own employee liquidity has about as little reason to list as a company can have. If you are buying Stripe exposure because you expect an IPO soon, the evidence points the other way.

What a buyer is taking on before a listing

• No exit in sight. Stripe has been private for well over a decade and can afford to stay that way.
• The issuer runs the process. The 159 billion dollar figure is credible and recent, and outside investors put up most of the money, but the price was agreed in a sale Stripe organised, not in an open market.
• Pressure on the take rate. In payments the fee per transaction is always under attack, from card networks, banks and account to account payment schemes.
• Regulatory exposure in every market it serves, and heavy dependence on the cycle of online commerce.
• Exit timing. With no listing, the realistic ways out are the next tender offer or a secondary sale. The holder controls the price in neither.

Exposure before a listing

Stripe shares trade on the secondary market with the company's consent, and the yearly tender offer gives that market an unusually clear reference price. Unicorn Private buys secondary stakes in established private technology companies at this stage of maturity, which is a different job from funding early-stage companies with venture capital. Whether Stripe's business works is not in question; the volume figures settle that. The questions are the entry price and how long the position has to be held. Unicorn Club, the investor club of Unicorn Private, offers club deals in Stripe through a dedicated vehicle (SPV), for accredited and qualified investors, from 100,000 dollars.

The short answer

Stripe is worth 159 billion dollars because on 24 February 2026 its employees sold shares at that price, mostly to investors such as Thrive Capital, Coatue and a16z, with Stripe buying back a portion, backed by 1.9 trillion dollars of 2025 payment volume and stated profitability. No filing, no date, no pressure from inside to list. The business is large and the numbers show it. The exit is what nobody has scheduled.

Related guides

• How to invest in OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks before an IPO
• How to value a private unicorn
• Secondary transactions and right of first refusal (ROFR)
• Anthropic: valuation, revenue and the road to an IPO
• OpenAI: valuation, the deferred IPO and what is actually documented
• ByteDance: a valuation set in the secondary market, and the TikTok question answered
• Unicorn tracker
• Unicorn Club

Sources

1. Stripe publishes 2025 annual letter and announces tender offer to provide liquidity to current and former employees, Stripe, 24 February 2026
2. Stripe valued at $159 billion after tender offer for employees, shareholders, CNBC, 24 February 2026
3. List of unicorn startup companies, Wikipedia