Stripe, the API payments company, is raising fresh cash, TechCrunch reported Wednesday (May 20), citing sources close to the deal. The exact amount isn’t known, but sources reportedly told the site the final number could be “big” and that one of the biggest backers in the new round could be DST Global.
The financing could top $500 million, the unnamed source allegedly told TechCrunch, though a spokesperson refused to comment on the rumors.
Stripe has been successful garnering large amounts of cash in past years; the company thus far has taken in nearly $200 million from marquee names such as Elon Musk, Sequoia Capital and Peter Thiel.
Any new funds would be likely go toward growth and geographic expansion beyond its current 20-country roster, as Stripe just unveiled a beta program in Japan. New initiatives are likely to be top of mind as Stripe continues to see competition from Braintree, which is in turn owned by PayPal, which is going public after a planned third quarter spinoff this year. Braintree offers v.zero, which is a new payment solution. And there are smaller players in the payment processing arena as well, such as WePay, which just this week announced that it has raised $40 million.
Among the most recent product in Stripe’s arsenal is Stripe Connect, which has acted as a payment processor for smaller companies and also as a springboard for the respective Twitter and Facebook Buy buttons. In March, the company rolled out a one-click platform which allows payments across both computers and mobile devices. After inputting card information, users are assigned an SMS code that allows payments across hardware and different sites.