Startup Factories: Stripe
Meet the 170+ startups founded by former Stripe operators who have collectively raised over $6 billion
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We recently launched a new series called Startup Factories—when a startup achieves success, it often blossoms with powerful network effects—former employees, or "operators," go on to launch their own ventures, invest in early-stage startups, or even establish their own venture funds.
Startup Factories explores the technology powerhouses, the visionary founders they cultivate, and the groundbreaking startups they build—past and present.
Throughout this edition, we discover the former operators at Stripe who are now building their own startup.
*Throughout this edition, we used Harmonic as our startup data provider.
About Stripe
Stripe is the online payments provider.
What do we know so far about the former operators who have gone on to found their own startups?
100+ startups have raised more than $500K.
An additional 70+ startups have been operating in stealth mode since 2024.
Founders from OpenAI and Anthropic all previously worked at Stripe.
The startups have collectively raised $6 billion to date.
Y Combinator has invested in 40% of the startups.
continue reading for further insights….
*Only startups that have raised a minimum of USD $500K are featured in our graphs.
When were the startups founded?
Of the 100+ startups featured, 65% have been founded since 2022.
Roles held at Stripe
40% of the former operators at Stripe turned founders have an engineering background.
If you have been following our series on Startup Factories, a large number of former operators turned founders have an engineering or product related background.
Where are the startups headquartered?
Most founders are building in the U.S. as our insights indicate.
Latest fundraising activity
Of the 100+ startups founded by former Stripe operators that have raised at least $500k, the majority are currently in the Pre-Seed or Seed stage. Early indications suggest that some of these startups are progressing to Series A rounds and beyond.
And, there are some notable companies becoming success stories…
Average funding rounds
From our data room analysis, former Stripe operators who became founders have raised the following amounts per funding stage based on their latest rounds.
$6 billion to date…
The former operators have collectively raised over $6 billion to date.
Average team size
Among the 100+ startups that have raised, 29% of the startups have two co-founders.
Universities attended
Among the universities attended by founders, UC Berkeley ranks as the most popular, followed by Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and Duke.
The most active investors
From the 100+ startups listed, 40% have raised from Y Combinator. Additional investors include: Sequoia Capital. Thrive Capital. General Catalyst and Accel.
*Y Combinator also appeared as the most active investor in our previous editions covering former NVIDIA, Palantir and LinkedIn operators.
Categories in which the startups are building in
30% of the startups are building across AI followed by SaaS, FinTech and Health as the strongest categories of interest.
Meet the 100+ startups
Meet the startups founded by former Stripe operators that have raised at least $500K.
Meet the 70+ stealth startups
In addition to the 100+ startups that have raised at least $500K, discover the 70+ founders who have been building in stealth since 2024.
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