“Can a payments API company become the complete financial operating system for every internet business — and simultaneously serve as the infrastructure layer that all other fintechs build on?”
Founded in 2010 as a radically simple payments API for developers, Stripe rapidly expanded beyond payment acceptance into a full financial infrastructure platform. Starting around 2016–2018, Stripe layered in Connect (multi-party payouts), Issuing (card creation), and Billing, positioning itself as the financial OS for internet businesses. The 2020 launch of Stripe Treasury marked its most significant pivot — from a PSP into a BaaS provider selling embedded banking to platforms. By 2024–2025, Stripe was competing across nearly every embedded finance layer: payments, issuing, treasury, lending, tax, FX, and identity, with a stated valuation of ~$159B on $1.9T in annual payment volume.
ShopifyStripe discloses Stripe Treasury (self-operated) as its banking provider, with Celtic Bank, Cross River Bank, Sutton Bank and Evolve Bank & Trust as its sponsor banks, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Stripe has applied for a national trust bank charter for Bridge National Trust Bank with the OCC. Status: conditional approval (2026-02-12). Until then its banking services run through Celtic Bank, Cross River Bank, Sutton Bank, Evolve Bank & Trust and Stripe Treasury (self-operated).
Stripe processes payments through Stripe Payments (self-operated), Stripe Connect (self-operated), Stripe Terminal (self-operated), Stripe Checkout (self-operated), Stripe Payment Links (self-operated) and Stripe Billing (self-operated).
Stripe's cards are issued through Stripe Issuing (self-operated) on the Visa and Mastercard networks.
Stripe's lending and capital products are provided by Stripe Capital (self-operated), Celtic Bank and YouLend.
Stripe connects to bank accounts through Stripe Financial Connections (self-operated).
Stripe uses Stripe Global Payouts (self-operated) and Stripe Connect cross-border payouts (self-operated) for FX and cross-border payouts.
Stripe's crypto products run on Tempo.
Stripe integrates with NetSuite, QuickBooks and Xero.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 12 layers in Stripe's stack: Payments / PSP (Stripe Payments (self-operated), Stripe Connect (self-operated), Stripe Terminal (self-operated), Stripe Checkout (self-operated) and 2 others); Banking / BaaS (Stripe Treasury (self-operated)); Card issuing (Stripe Issuing (self-operated)); Card network (Visa and Mastercard); Lending (Stripe Capital (self-operated), Celtic Bank, YouLend, Stripe Capital — direct financing for eligible Stripe businesses and 3 others); Open banking (Stripe Financial Connections (self-operated)); Sponsor bank (Celtic Bank, Cross River Bank, Sutton Bank and Evolve Bank & Trust); FX & payouts (Stripe Global Payouts (self-operated) and Stripe Connect cross-border payouts (self-operated)); Crypto (Tempo); Accounting (NetSuite, QuickBooks and Xero); Spend / AP (Stripe Issuing (self-operated)); Treasury (Stripe Treasury (self-operated) and Stripe Treasury).
Stripe was founded by Patrick Collison and John Collison and is founded in 2010, headquartered in South San Francisco, California, USA and Dublin, Ireland.
Stripe has raised >$8B in total (latest round: Secondary transaction (2025); valuation: ~$159B (2025)).
Stripe's acquisitions include Parafin (2026), Metronome (2025), Privy (2025), Bridge (2025), Lemon Squeezy (2024), Recko (2021), TaxJar (2021) and Paystack (2020).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Stripe and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.