Patrick Collison Bio
Patrick Collison (born 9 September 1988) is an Irish entrepreneur and businessman who serves as the co-founder and chief executive officer of Stripe, a global online payments company he launched with his younger brother John Collison in 2010. Born in the small village of Dromineer in County Tipperary, Ireland, Collison first gained public attention in 2005 when he won the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the age of sixteen. He later co-founded Fast Grants in 2020 and the Arc Institute in 2021, extending his influence from fintech into scientific research funding.
As one of the youngest self-made billionaires in technology, Collison has helped shape modern online commerce by building payment infrastructure used by millions of businesses. Beyond Stripe, he is recognized for his writing on scientific productivity, his philanthropic efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his ongoing work through the Arc Institute, a nonprofit research organization.
Early Life and Background
Patrick Collison was born on 9 September 1988 to microbiologist Lily Collison and electronic engineer Denis Collison. He grew up in the small village of Dromineer in County Tipperary, Ireland, alongside his younger brothers, including John Collison, who would later become his business partner. The eldest of three boys, he took his first computer course at the University of Limerick at the age of eight and began learning computer programming by the time he was ten.
Collison attended the Irish-medium primary school Gaelscoil Aonach Urmhumhan in Nenagh before continuing his secondary education at Castletroy College in County Limerick. He was an early enthusiast of computer science and built an early interest in programming languages, completing projects that would later shape his academic competitions and early ventures.
At the age of sixteen, Collison entered the 41st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with a project on artificial intelligence, nicknamed Isaac after the scientist Isaac Newton, and won first place in 2005. His winning entry involved the creation of Croma, a LISP-type programming language. The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, presented him with a €7,500 prize and a Waterford Crystal trophy.
Path to CEO of Stripe
Following his success in the Young Scientist competition, Collison enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States to study computer science. While at MIT, he continued to develop software projects alongside his brother John, laying the foundation for their future startup ventures. In 2007, while still a student, he co-founded a software company called Shuppa, a name derived from the Irish word siopa meaning shop, based in Limerick.
After Shuppa did not receive funding from Enterprise Ireland, the brothers moved to California to participate in the Y Combinator startup accelerator, where they merged their venture with a project by Oxford graduates Harjeet and Kulveer Taggar. The combined company became Auctomatic, an e-commerce software firm. On Good Friday in March 2008, when Patrick was nineteen and John was seventeen, the brothers sold Auctomatic to the Canadian company Live Current Media, becoming millionaires in the process.
After briefly serving as director of engineering at Live Current Media in Vancouver in 2008, Collison returned to his studies before ultimately leaving MIT in 2009 to focus on building new companies. In 2010, he and his brother John co-founded Stripe in San Francisco, a software platform designed to make it easier for businesses to accept online payments.
Patrick Collison Career
Early Career (2005–2009)
Collison’s professional path began in earnest with his 2005 Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition win, which he has often credited with launching his career in technology. The publicity and recognition from the award helped him gain admission to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he continued developing software projects with his brother John.
His first significant commercial venture, Shuppa, was founded in 2007 and later merged into Auctomatic. The 2008 sale of Auctomatic to Live Current Media, when he was still a teenager, provided the financial resources and entrepreneurial experience that shaped his approach to building technology companies.
Stripe Breakthrough (2010–2016)
Patrick Collison co-founded Stripe in 2010 with his brother John, creating a developer-friendly payment processing platform aimed at simplifying how internet businesses handle transactions. In 2011, the company secured $2 million in early investment from PayPal co-founders Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, as well as venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and SV Angel. This early backing helped Stripe grow rapidly among online merchants and software developers.
By November 2016, the Collison brothers had become the world’s youngest self-made billionaires, with a combined net worth of at least $1.1 billion following an investment that valued Stripe at $9.2 billion. The funding round was led by CapitalG and General Catalyst Partners, marking Stripe’s emergence as one of the most valuable private fintech companies in the world.
Throughout this period, Stripe expanded its payment tools, fraud prevention services, and global reach, becoming a backbone of internet commerce for startups and large enterprises alike. By 2017, the Collison brothers were notionally worth at least $3.2 billion each, reflecting Stripe’s rapid valuation growth.
Stripe Era (2016–Present)
Under the continued leadership of the Collison brothers, Stripe raised an additional $250 million in September 2019 at a valuation of $35 billion, cementing its position among the most valuable private technology companies globally. The brothers hold a controlling interest in the company. In 2018, Stripe contributed $1 million to California YIMBY, a pro-housing development lobbying organization, reflecting Collison’s broader interest in public policy and urban growth.
Beyond Stripe, Collison has expanded his impact into scientific research. In 2020, he co-founded Fast Grants with economist Tyler Cowen to accelerate funding for COVID-19-related science during the pandemic. In 2021, he co-founded the Arc Institute, a nonprofit research organization, alongside bioscientists Silvana Konermann and Patrick Hsu. In April 2025, Collison joined the board of directors of Meta Platforms, broadening his influence across the global technology industry.
Notable Events and Milestones
One of the defining moments of Collison’s career came in November 2016, when he and his brother John became the world’s youngest self-made billionaires following Stripe’s multibillion-dollar valuation. His earlier milestone, winning the 2005 Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, marked the start of his path from a small Irish village to the global technology stage, and he has often credited the experience with shaping his entrepreneurial ambitions.
Patrick Collison Career Wins
Patrick Collison’s career has been marked by a series of high-profile achievements, from his teenage win at the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition to building one of the world’s most valuable private technology companies. His accomplishments span technology, business, and scientific philanthropy, establishing him as one of Ireland’s most influential entrepreneurs.
Career Highlights
Collison’s first major career highlight came in 2005, when he won the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the age of sixteen, earning the BT Young Scientist of the Year title and a prize presented by the Irish President. His most recent and ongoing achievement is the continued leadership of Stripe, which by 2019 was valued at $35 billion and processes payments for millions of businesses worldwide.
He was also named a self-made billionaire at a young age in 2016, joining his brother John on the Forbes billionaires list, and was later appointed to the board of Meta Platforms in April 2025. His co-founding of Fast Grants in 2020 and the Arc Institute in 2021 represents his expansion into science funding and nonprofit research.
Other Wins & Achievements
In 2004, Collison was the individual runner-up at the 40th Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with a project on artificial intelligence, an early sign of his talent in computer science. He has also published influential writing on scientific productivity, including a 2018 article in The Atlantic with Michael Nielsen titled Science is Getting Less Bang for its Buck, and a 2019 piece with Tyler Cowen proposing a new academic discipline called Progress Studies.
Patrick Collison Family
Family Background and Lineage
Patrick Collison was born to Denis Collison, an electronic engineer, and Lily Collison, a microbiologist, and is the eldest of three boys. His younger brother John Collison is his co-founder at Stripe and a fellow billionaire, while his other brother Tommy also participated in the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2010. The brothers were raised in the small village of Dromineer in County Tipperary, and both Patrick and John were featured on a young Irish persons rich list broadcast on RTÉ television during the 2008 Christmas period.
Personal Life
In April 2022, Patrick Collison married Swiss-American biochemist and Stanford University professor Silvana Konermann, with whom he co-founded the Arc Institute. The two first met during the 2004 EU Young Scientist competition, when Collison was a teenager. Collison currently lives in San Francisco, California, where Stripe is headquartered.