Patrick Collison

Patrick Collison co-founded Stripe with his brother John Collison in 2010 while both were teenagers, backed by Y Combinator and Paul Graham. Stripe built an API-first payment processing platform that made it simple for developers to accept payments — reducing what previously took months of bank integration to just a few lines of code. The company grew to a valuation of $95 billion at its 2021 peak and processes hundreds of billions in payments annually. Stripe is used by companies ranging from startups to Amazon. Patrick has also co-founded Stripe Press and the Arc Prize for AI research. Beyond payments, Stripe has expanded into financial infrastructure services including business incorporation, revenue optimization, fraud prevention, and treasury management, positioning itself as a comprehensive financial operating system for internet businesses across markets globally.