Stripe & Advent bid $53B for PayPal, but Advent’s payments empire is the real story 💳👑; Revolut just gave AI Agents the keys to its trading platform 🤖💸
FinTech is Eating the World, 15 July
Hey Everyone,
Good morning & happy Wednesday! Today, we’re diving into Stripe and Advent, which just placed a $53 billion bid to acquire finance giant PayPal (why Stripe needs PayPal & why Advent’s payments empire is the real story here + bonus dive into Stripe’s Agentic AI strategy inside), and Revolut, which just gave AI Agents the keys to its trading platform (why Revolut did that, how it stacks againts other players in the space & what it tells us about the future of finance + bonus dives into Revolut’s proprietory AI PRAGMA, and How to Build Agentic OS with Claude Fable 5 inside). So let’s just jump straight into the finnovative stuff 🌶️
Stripe and Advent bid $53 billion for PayPal, but Advent’s payments empire is the real story 💳👑
The BIG News 🔥 The company once worth a whopping $360 billion just got offered $53 billion, and the buyers couldn’t even get a meeting.
Stripe and Advent International have jointly bid $60.50 per share for PayPal PYPL 0.00%↑, backed by $50 billion in committed bank financing, in what would be the largest fintech takeover attempt in years 😳
Most people will treat this as a Stripe goes after PayPal story. It’s not.
Advent is the main architect here, which has spent 18 months quietly assembling a full-stack payments conglomerate through Nuvei and Payoneer, and the 50/50 deal structure tells you exactly how both buyers are pricing risk, reach, and the next era of payments M&A.
Let’s unpack this.
