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> This certainly makes Stripe the most valuable private startup in the world.

Stripe has not been a startup for a while, they've been in public operations for about 10 years now and probably power a large portion of online purchases.

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Why does any of what you said disqualify them as a startup?

Probably because they are a billion dollar mature company. Every company was a startup at some point but at some point they are a mature company that shouldn’t be called startup anymore. Stripe is certainly one of them.

I don't get it. I follow PG's definition of a startup [1]. I think Stripe still qualifies as one.

1. http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html

Well its PGs perspective whose opinion is not accepted or valued world wide, Indian government doesn't consider you a startup any more after crossing certain age and revenue. Also a lot of companies will not recognise you as a startup(for offers) after you cross certain threshold. Stripe is far from that threshold.

This is not a startup by any meaning of the word “start”. He should call it “high growth company ” If you go by growth then Apple may be considered a startup after 40 years in business.

true. any word on their market share %?

They started processing a portion of Amazon.com's purchases back in 2017 and I'm guessing that portion has probably grown since then.

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