Stripe lures Dhivya Suryadevara from General Motors to be CFO

Companies launched on Stripe’s platform since March have generated close to $10bn

Stripe, the payments company founded by Patrick and John Collison, has lured Dhivya Suryadevara away from General Motors to become its new chief financial officer (CFO).

The news comes as the fast-growing company said businesses launched on its software platform since Covid-19 lockdowns began in March have generated close to $10 billion (€8.5 billion) in revenues to date. This compares with revenues of $1 billion in late May.

Announcing the new appointment, Stripe said Ms Suryadevara brings with her a wealth of experience from her time as CFO at General Motors. While at the carmaker, she oversaw financial operations amounting to over $100 billion in annual revenue, and millions of vehicles delivered annually by 180,000 employees across six continents.

“I really enjoy leading complex, large-scale businesses and I hope to use my skills to help accelerate Stripe’s already steep growth trajectory,” she said.

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Ms Suryadevara's appointment follows the recent arrival of Mike Clayville, formerly of Amazon Web Services, as Stripe's chief revenue officer, and Trish Walsh, previously at Voya Financial, as general counsel.

The appointment comes at a pivotal time for the company, which four months ago raised an additional $600 million from backers.

The company, which has a post market valuation of nearly $36 billion, is in expansion mode, having taken on an additional 400 employees so far this year and launched in 15 new countries.

Launched in 2010, Stripe's technology handles hundreds of billions of dollars in transactions each year and counts the likes of Amazon, Uber, Booking. com, Deliveroo and Google among its customers.

The company has seen a significant increase in business since the start of 2020, with video conferencing group Zoom, Just Eat, Lightspeed, Mattel, and NBC among its new clients.

Stripe employs more than 2,800 people in total, including over 300 in Ireland. It set up an international engineering hub - its first outside of the US - in Dublin in early 2018.

Last year, Stripe announced plans to create hundreds of additional engineering jobs in the Republic after securing an e-money licence from the Central Bank.

“Dhivya is a rare leader who has run an industry-leading leviathan but also gets excited about enabling the brand-new products and the yet-to-be invented products, too,” said John Collison, the company’s president. “She has the expertise and the instincts to help steer Stripe through our growth in the years ahead.”

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist