Ireland’s growing unicorn herd a sign of strong start-up sector

Irish fintechs have become global players, with some start-ups valued at more than $1 billion

Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison: the brothers’ company was valued at $65 billion (¤60.5 billion) this year.

Home-grown Irish fintechs have established themselves as leading global players with stratospheric valuations in a relatively short period of time, several of them achieving unicorn status – privately owned start-ups valued at more than $1 billion.

Perhaps the most famous Irish fintech success story is the one that did not actually start here. The Collison brothers decided to found Stripe in Palo Alto, California, rather than here at home in 2010. The company provides technology to help retailers process consumer payments, and earlier this year was valued at an astonishing $65 billion (€60.5 billion). In 2022 alone more than $800 billion in payments in more than 130 currencies were processed on its technology.