John Collison (born August 1990) is an Irish entrepreneur and the president of Stripe, a financial services and software company he co-founded in 2010 with his elder brother Patrick. He was recognized as the world's youngest self-made billionaire in 2016, and as of 2026, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his net worth at US$9.3 billion.
Collison's career has been defined by his role in building Stripe into a major payments platform, alongside his involvement in technology investment and public policy debates. His work has intersected with developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning, as Stripe has integrated such technologies into its services.
Early life and education
Collison was born in Limerick, Ireland, in August 1990 to microbiologist Lily and electronic engineer Denis Collison. He and his brothers were raised in the small village of Dromineer in County Tipperary. In 2007, he founded Shuppa with his elder brother Patrick in Limerick. The company later merged with Auctomatic, a software company that built tools for the eBay platform and was funded by Y Combinator. Collison subsequently moved to Silicon Valley. Auctomatic was acquired for $5 million in March 2008, when Collison was 17.
In 2009, after returning to finish secondary school at Castletroy College, Collison received eight A1 and two A2 grades in the Irish Leaving Certificate examination. He enrolled at Harvard University in September 2009 but dropped out the following year. Collison is also a pilot and a pianist.
Career at Stripe
In 2010, Collison co-founded Stripe, which received early backing from Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, and Sequoia Capital. The company grew rapidly, becoming a central infrastructure provider for online payments. Under Collison's leadership as president, Stripe expanded into new markets and product areas, including tools for businesses to manage subscriptions, prevent fraud, and handle global transactions.
In November 2016, the Collison brothers became the world's youngest self-made billionaires, worth at least $1.1 billion, after an investment in Stripe from CapitalG and General Catalyst valued the company at $9.2 billion. That same year, Forbes ranked Collison 15th on its list of America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40.
In 2018, Stripe, under the direction of the Collison brothers, contributed $1 million to California YIMBY, a pro-housing development lobbying organisation. The Collison brothers are citizens of Ireland.
Forbes article controversy
A profile of the brothers published in Forbes in 2021 claimed the brothers had "escaped" from Limerick, describing it as a "warzone" because of a gang feud and calling it the "'murder capital' of Europe." The article claimed that "shootings, pipe bomb attacks, and stabbings" happened there every night and that "some bad neighbourhoods are even walled off by a dirty graffitied 10-foot-high barrier, like the Berlin Wall."
The article received widespread publicity online and caused a backlash. Patrick tweeted, "Not only mistaken about Limerick but the idea of 'overcoming' anything is crazy. We are who we are because we grew up where we did." John Collison tweeted that it was "daft." Irish politicians, including Patrick O'Donovan and Niall Collins, publicly criticized the piece. O'Donovan called on the magazine and author to apologize to the people of Limerick "or the insult and hurt caused" by it, and invited them to visit the city. The article was removed from the Forbes website on 9 April 2021.
Later activities
In 2021 and 2022, Collison bought the Abbeyleix Estate and the derelict Millbrook House, neighbouring properties in County Laois, Ireland. He has stated he will spend several millions of euros over some years restoring Millbrook House to make a family home.
In 2025, Collison debuted a new podcast called "A Cheeky Pint," featuring interviews with leaders in the technology industry. The podcast reflects his ongoing engagement with the broader tech ecosystem, including topics related to generative AI and large language models, which have become increasingly relevant to Stripe's product development and the wider industry.