Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

Stripe has great and interesting products but this valuation seems very high. They are competing with companies like Global Payments and First Data but they aren't disrupting them.

First Data has a lower market cap than this with $9B in annual revenue and $1B in annual profit.

I'm aware of a large org actively moving the bulk of $3bn in volume from FiServ (formerly First Data) to Stripe. Stripe's valuation is higher because of their trajectory. FiServ isn't innovating- at all. Just more attempts at lipstick on the pig.

$3bn in volume equates to around $90M (~3% of volume) in fees. Not an insignificant amount of money but when your revenue is approaching $10B, it doesn't move the needle.

Also, this money is divided up among all the players. This includes the network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.), the Bank (every credit card has an issuing bank), and the acquirer (Stripe).