Stripe is the Irish technology company that’s been giving PayPal a run for its money. Brothers John Collison, 25, and Patrick Collison, 27, received seed funding from Y Combinator in June 2010, and the money kept coming in from the likes of venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Andreessen Horowitz, among others. The payment processor allows individuals and businesses to accept payments over the Internet without having to register and maintain a merchant account. The Collison brothers are now billionaires.
In April 2016, John and Patrick Collison made personal investments in the $50M/Series C round of Intercom, a customer communication platform with products for live chat, marketing, feedback, and support built by four Irishmen living in San Francisco. Also in April, John made an investment in Detroit-based company Castle ($2M/seed round), which manages rental homes for landlords using automation and on-demand labor. 60 Minutes will air its Lesley Stahl interview with the Collison brothers on May 1 at 7pm on CBS.
