IRISH FUNDED PAYMENTS START-UP STRIPE NOW VALUED AT $3.5 billion - Online payments start-up Stripe, founded by Limerick brothers John and Patrick Collison, has raised $70 million (€56 million) in venture capital funding, bringing the company’s valuation to $3.5 billion. The firm, which is often touted as a rival for payments giant Paypal, offers processing services for online and mobile transactions. It lets businesses start processing credit-card payments in 139 different currencies, bank transfers, bitcoin and Alipay in less than five minutes, and enables software programmers quickly incorporate payment features into their apps, writes the Irish Times. Investors in the latest funding round included Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures and Thrive Capital. They bring the amount of venture funding raised by Stripe to $210 million. The San Francisco-based company, which was founded in 2010, raised $80 million from investors in January of this year. Patrick Collison said the company is still sitting on much of what it raised in January, but it wanted to “err on the side of being really well-capitalised” in case markets cool down. In September, Stripe was named as one of Apple’s partners for its new Apple Pay service,along with Visa and First Data. The company is also powering Facebook’s “Buy” button, as well as an e-commerce feature for Twitter.
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GERMAN AND BRITISH OPPOSITION COULD HURT PLAN TO CUT TAXES FOR INNOVATIVE COMPANIES - Finance Minister Michael Noonan has signalled that German and UK opposition could hamper plans for a so-called "knowledge development box" announced in the Budget. The scheme, which would cut taxes for innovative companies, will be implemented as part of next year's Budget, the minister said, even though the so-called "double Irish" tax loophole it is supposed to replace expires next month. The knowledge development box would allow companies generous tax breaks based on their intellectual property rights, says the Irish Independent. It is intended to encourage local companies to develop and sell products based on their patents and to attract the research and development units of foreign companies. Germany and Britain said last month they will seek backing from other countries for a deal to ensure tax breaks based on patented research apply only in the country where the research and innovation takes place. At a corporate tax conference organised by the Institute for International and European Affairs yesterday, Mr Noonan said it appeared qualifying for the tax break would be determined by whether a certain percentage of a company's research and development staff worked locally.
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BONO'S HOTEL STAYS IN PROFIT - U2’s four-star boutique hotel, the Clarence, has had “a great year” in 2014 after recording the fourth successive year of profits last year. New figures show that the hotel, based in Dublin’s Temple Bar, last year recorded profits of €57,933. According to new accounts just filed by the hotel’s Brushfield Ltd, the business reduced its accumulated losses by €57,933, from €2.379m to €2.32m in the 12 months to the end of December last. The profit last year follows a profit of €73,442 in 2012, reports the Irish Examiner. Prior to 2010, the business had incurred significant losses with combined pre-tax losses of €2.64m in 2009 and 2008. According to the head of marketing and communications at The Clarence, Aileen Galvin, “we’ve had a great year and are continuing to work hard to make 2015 even more successful”. The boutique hotel was purchased by Bono and The Edge and a consortium of investors in 1992 and the returns show that the hotel’s shareholders have advanced interest free loans to the business and they were owed €769,583 at the end of December last. The shareholders are listed as Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, The Edge, along with financier, Derek Quinlan and developer, Paddy McKillen.
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CHRISTIE'S CHIEF MURPHY TO STEP DOWN - Steven Murphy has stunned the art world by revealing he will step down as Christie’s chief executive at the end of this year, less than a month after the auction house smashed records for the biggest sale in history, says the Financial Times. The news comes just 10 days after Sotheby’s, Christie’s arch rival, announced that William Ruprecht, its chief executive and chairman, would be standing down after 14 years running the auction house and following a battle with the group’s largest stakeholder, activist investor Dan Loeb. The two auction houses have long been locked in a bitter fight for control of the fine art market. Mr Murphy, a former publishing and music industry executive, masterminded new initiatives including expansion online and into new growth markets, consistently outstripping Sotheby’s efforts after taking on the role of chief executive in 2010. Patricia Barbizet will replace him as chief executive of the London-based auctioneer, privately owned by French luxury industry tycoon François Pinault, and continue in her role as chairman, the company said. Mr Murphy’s unexpected exit comes less than a month after Christie’s broke records for the biggest art auction in history, selling $852.9m worth of postwar and contemporary art at its November sale in New York. Last year, a 1969 triptych by the Anglo-Irish artist Francis Bacon sold for $142.4m, becoming the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.
