The payments giant appointed Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as a legal advisor.

A Reuters exclusive report said digital payments processor Stripe Inc had hired a law firm to advise on a potential listing. Stripe is reckoned as the most valuable US tech startup after it garnered a valuation of $95 billion in a $600 million fundraising round in March. Investors included Allianz X, Baillie Gifford, Sequoia Capital, and Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).

According to Reuters, the startup has appointed New York-based Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as a legal adviser on its early-stage preparations leading up to going public via a direct listing route, instead of a regular IPO process.

Stripe: Direct listing, not IPO

Reuter’s sources said the company was opting for a direct listing because it did not need fresh money. Instead, existing backers of the hitherto private company would sell their shares to the investing public.

Earlier this week, UK fintech Wise was valued at $11 billion after it took the direct route to a listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The appointment by Stripe of the specialist law firm would be followed by hiring investment bankers later this year. As of current reckoning, it is unlikely that the listing could materialize within 2021.

Interestingly, just last month, John Collison told Bloomberg TV that “we’re happy as a private company,” and that Stripe still had no IPO plans – the $95 billion valuation notwithstanding.

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Image of Patrick and John Collison: Stripe.com