Stripe Denies It is Weighing an Investment in SBI Payments

Fintech giant Stripe denied Tuesday it was weighing an investment in SBI Payments, a unit of the state-backed lender SBI, refuting a news report from Hindu BusinessLine.

Stripe, once valued at nearly $100 billion, has largely had no play in India, where it would compete against the likes of Razorpay.

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But as a thought experiment, let’s say Stripe were getting a stake in SBI Payments, how would that make sense?

A fintech investor friend texted me: By owning that much stake, Stripe will “try to mandate that online gateway is Stripe’s […] and Stripe gets the entire offline machine of SBI – huge win. But Stripe’s operating culture vs. SBI’s will probably clash, making a tough collaboration to execute.”