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This certainly makes Stripe the most valuable private startup in the world. Where does Stripe rank among the world's most valuable private companies, though? I

This certainly makes Stripe the most valuable private startup in the world. Where does Stripe rank among the world's most valuable private companies, though? It's easy to find lists of dubious quality like this: https://news.yahoo.com/10-most-valuable-private-companies-215920362.html https://news.yahoo.com/10-most-valuable-private-companies-21..., but I'm sure there are more lurking. What are they?

gota 6y ago
Yeah, I don't know about these lists. Cargill valued at 40bn when wikipedia says they own 60bn in assets and profiting... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargill https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargill
- qeternity 6y ago
  Cargill is an agritrader. They are a big company but definitely not as valuable as Stripe (look at some of the other ABCDs). Trading businesses never get high valuations. But they throw off real cash. Different strokes for different folks.
  - tryptophan 6y ago
    True. They don't get high valuations because their earnings fluctuate a lot, and their average profit margin is like 1-3%, as compared to like stripe or apple which probably has like 30%.
- nl 6y ago
  > Cargill valued at 40bn when wikipedia says they own 60bn in assets and profiting This is true, but it's unclear how much debt they are carrying, and a quick Google couldn't find out.
missedthecue 6y ago
Koch Industries is worth well in excess of $100 billion.
DLay 6y ago
Bytedance was valued at $180 billion back in November. I was shocked to learn how many products they have besides Douyin/TikTok. https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/05/tiktoks-parent-company-bytedance-is-reportedly-looking-for-2b-before-its-hong-kong-public-offering/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/05/tiktoks-parent-company-byt...
ThePhysicist 6y ago
Bosch is privately owned and they made 71 B€ of revenue in 2020, so about 180 times bigger than Stripe.
beaner 6y ago
Coinbase is still private and is valued at $100 B.
- plumeria 6y ago
  Would they have that valuation if they were non-custodial?
  - Kranar 6y ago
    Probably be worth more. Being custodial is a liability and Coinbase doesn't charge anything for it.
  - beaner 6y ago
    I don't necessarily know if this is relevant. Coinbase's custody business is a relatively small (but growing) branch mostly for institutions. Its consumer product is not driven by the fact that it is custodial, but by its function as a gateway between the crypto and fiat world. Where you ultimately put the crypto you acquire through them is entirely up to you, and in fact Coinbase does provide a non-custodial wallet product called Coinbase Wallet.
masom 6y ago
> This certainly makes Stripe the most valuable private startup in the world. Stripe has not been a startup for a while, they've been in public operations for about 10 years now and probably power a large portion of online purchases.
- jgalt212 6y ago
  true. any word on their market share %?
  - dmlittle 6y ago
    They started processing a portion of Amazon.com's purchases back in 2017 and I'm guessing that portion has probably grown since then.
- ryanSrich 6y ago
  Why does any of what you said disqualify them as a startup?
  - spaetzleesser 6y ago
    Probably because they are a billion dollar mature company. Every company was a startup at some point but at some point they are a mature company that shouldn’t be called startup anymore. Stripe is certainly one of them.
    - ryanSrich 6y ago
      I don't get it. I follow PG's definition of a startup [1]. I think Stripe still qualifies as one. 1. http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
      - anaganisk 6y ago
        Well its PGs perspective whose opinion is not accepted or valued world wide, Indian government doesn't consider you a startup any more after crossing certain age and revenue. Also a lot of companies will not recognise you as a startup(for offers) after you cross certain threshold. Stripe is far from that threshold.
deleted 6y ago
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gota 6y ago

Yeah, I don't know about these lists. Cargill valued at 40bn when wikipedia says they own 60bn in assets and profiting... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargill https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargill

qeternity 6y ago
Cargill is an agritrader. They are a big company but definitely not as valuable as Stripe (look at some of the other ABCDs). Trading businesses never get high valuations. But they throw off real cash. Different strokes for different folks.
- tryptophan 6y ago
  True. They don't get high valuations because their earnings fluctuate a lot, and their average profit margin is like 1-3%, as compared to like stripe or apple which probably has like 30%.
nl 6y ago
> Cargill valued at 40bn when wikipedia says they own 60bn in assets and profiting This is true, but it's unclear how much debt they are carrying, and a quick Google couldn't find out.

missedthecue 6y ago

Koch Industries is worth well in excess of $100 billion.

DLay 6y ago

Bytedance was valued at $180 billion back in November. I was shocked to learn how many products they have besides Douyin/TikTok. https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/05/tiktoks-parent-company-bytedance-is-reportedly-looking-for-2b-before-its-hong-kong-public-offering/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/05/tiktoks-parent-company-byt...

ThePhysicist 6y ago

Bosch is privately owned and they made 71 B€ of revenue in 2020, so about 180 times bigger than Stripe.

beaner 6y ago

Coinbase is still private and is valued at $100 B.

plumeria 6y ago
Would they have that valuation if they were non-custodial?
- Kranar 6y ago
  Probably be worth more. Being custodial is a liability and Coinbase doesn't charge anything for it.
- beaner 6y ago
  I don't necessarily know if this is relevant. Coinbase's custody business is a relatively small (but growing) branch mostly for institutions. Its consumer product is not driven by the fact that it is custodial, but by its function as a gateway between the crypto and fiat world. Where you ultimately put the crypto you acquire through them is entirely up to you, and in fact Coinbase does provide a non-custodial wallet product called Coinbase Wallet.

masom 6y ago

> This certainly makes Stripe the most valuable private startup in the world. Stripe has not been a startup for a while, they've been in public operations for about 10 years now and probably power a large portion of online purchases.

jgalt212 6y ago
true. any word on their market share %?
- dmlittle 6y ago
  They started processing a portion of Amazon.com's purchases back in 2017 and I'm guessing that portion has probably grown since then.
ryanSrich 6y ago
Why does any of what you said disqualify them as a startup?
- spaetzleesser 6y ago
  Probably because they are a billion dollar mature company. Every company was a startup at some point but at some point they are a mature company that shouldn’t be called startup anymore. Stripe is certainly one of them.
  - ryanSrich 6y ago
    I don't get it. I follow PG's definition of a startup [1]. I think Stripe still qualifies as one. 1. http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
    - anaganisk 6y ago
      Well its PGs perspective whose opinion is not accepted or valued world wide, Indian government doesn't consider you a startup any more after crossing certain age and revenue. Also a lot of companies will not recognise you as a startup(for offers) after you cross certain threshold. Stripe is far from that threshold.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]