San Francisco, May 17, 2026, 03:30 (PDT)
- Forge showed Stripe’s private shares at $72.45 as of Sunday, putting the company’s value at $175.62 billion.
- Stripe is still private and does not have a stock ticker.
- U.S. markets are closed for the weekend, so this is more of a last-week and week-ahead look at IPO appetite than a read on live trading.
Stripe’s price in the private market has moved higher than where it was in the company’s most recent share sale, offering investors a new indication for one of the most watched fintechs that’s still private.
Forge has put out a Stripe “Forge Price” at $72.45 as of May 17, which would value the private payments company at $175.62 billion. This isn’t an exchange-traded figure—it’s a private-market estimate. Stripe is still private and does not have a public ticker. According to Forge, buying shares in these private companies usually requires accredited investor status. Forge Global
U.S. stock markets are shut for the weekend, leaving investors waiting until Monday to see if high private-company valuations still make sense. Nasdaq trades Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern, according to Nasdaq.
Stripe’s latest tender offer in February put its valuation at $159 billion. The company said investors like Thrive Capital, Coatue and Andreessen Horowitz provided most of the cash, while Stripe also used some of its own funds to repurchase shares. Total payment volume processed by Stripe hit $1.9 trillion in 2025, a 34% jump from 2024. Stripe
The deal gave liquidity, instead of a regular funding round focused on new cash for the company’s balance sheet. This also took some pressure off the need for an IPO in the near term — that first public sale of shares.
Stripe is still “robustly profitable,” Patrick and John Collison said in the company’s annual letter, letting Stripe keep up spending on new products and acquisitions. Thrive partner Kareem Zaki said Stripe could pull further ahead in “agentic commerce,” where AI agents start or process deals, and in stablecoins, which are digital tokens meant to keep their value. Stripe
Stripe’s IPO plans remain off the table for now. John Collison said in February that a big capital-markets move wasn’t “in our top 10 or 20 list of priorities,” he told the Financial Times. The comment still shapes how investors look at Stripe’s tender-offer plans. Financial Times
Stripe’s private valuation is far ahead of peers. The payments company’s latest mark, either at the $159 billion level seen in the February tender or Forge’s most recent implied value, tops the public market caps for PayPal and Block. Those companies closed the last session at about $40.9 billion and $42.0 billion each.
IPO action last week stayed busy, but results were mixed. Reuters said Saturday that BlackRock is considering a $5 billion to $10 billion investment in SpaceX’s planned IPO next month. SpaceX wants to raise about $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation. A deal that big would test public market appetite for giant private firms. Reuters
Fintech names were also in the spotlight. Wise started trading on Nasdaq last week, moving its main listing from London to New York. The firm pointed to bigger U.S. capital markets and more access to investors as the reason. Wise reported it processed $243 billion in cross-border payments for the year ended March 31, which is a 31% jump. Reuters
Private prices might overstate company values when trading is light. Forge says closing a private-stock trade depends on demand, company signoff and transfer limits. Settlements usually take 45 to 60 days. Public market investors can move a stock price in minutes.
Macro risks remain in play. Reuters said Sunday that bond yields surged last week, pushing the 30-year Treasury over 5% and the 10-year above 4.5%. That adds pressure on stocks. Peter Tuz, who runs Chase Investment Counsel, said “a real fear” is out there now that inflation may be sticking in the economy. Reuters
Stripe faces a different test in the coming week, with the focus not on an IPO launch but on whether its private valuation holds up as public market investors weigh larger listings, better yields, and the daily trading of payments competitors. For now, Stripe shows a private price signal. It still lacks a public market price.
