Mark Carney, the “rockstar banker” who ran both the UK and Canadian central banks, has joined the board of Stripe, adding to the US digital payments company’s distinguished board as it prepares for a round of funding that could value it at $100 billion.
A former Goldman Sachs executive who also served as the governor of the Bank of Canada, Carney will provide Stripe with his experience of financial systems and governance, the company said.
Carney is head of impact investing at Brookfield Asset Management, the first major role he has assumed since his term as Bank of England governor ended in March 2020.
“The very nature of commerce has changed over the past decade,” Carney said in a statement on Stripe’s website.
“Stripe has been at the forefront of enabling this new digital economy, providing innovative and resilient global payment solutions to businesses large and small,” he added.
The San Francisco-based Stripe was founded in 2010 by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison in their hometown of Limerick when they dropped out of university.
Stripe’s early investors include Tesla founder Elon Musk and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel.
BREAKNECK GROWTH
The company has grown at breakneck speed. It now has 3,000 staff and processes billions of dollars of online purchases in 42 countries.
The coronavirus pandemic, with millions working from home and lockdowns shutting restaurants and stores, has helped the company surge.
Stripe is said to be eyeing a fundraising that could value it at $100 billion – a similar valuation to Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs – before a possible stock market float.
In the UK, Stripe’s biggest market outside the US, it has graduated from serving startups such as Deliveroo to processing online payments for High-Street brands such as the high-end Waitrose supermarket chain, and the upmarket Holland & Barrett health food stores.
Stripe also counts the government and broadcaster ITV as clients, taking a cut of all digital payments.
Carney will join figures on the Stripe board such as Sequoia Capital partner Sir Michael Moritz and Christa Davies, the chief financial officer of Aon.
• George Russell
This report was updated on Jan 11, 2022 for style purposes.
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