Brian Nichols is the co-founder of Angel Squad, a community where you’ll learn how to angel invest and get a chance to invest as little as $1k into Hustle Fund's top performing early-stage startups.

The Collison brothers didn't just build one of the world's most valuable private companies - they've quietly assembled one of the most strategic angel portfolios in Silicon Valley. With Stripe valued at $91.5 billion as of February 2025, Patrick and John Collison have used their position as infrastructure builders to become infrastructure investors, backing the next generation of companies that will power the internet economy.

But here's what makes their investment approach fascinating: instead of chasing consumer apps or the latest trends, the Collisons consistently bet on companies building foundational technology that other businesses depend on. From nuclear fusion to AI research institutes, their portfolio reads like a blueprint for the future of technology infrastructure.

The Stripe Foundation: Building the Internet's Payment Rails

To understand the Collisons' investment philosophy, you first need to appreciate what they built with Stripe. This wasn't just another payments company - it was a complete reimagining of how money moves on the internet.

The Problem They Solved

When Patrick and John started Stripe in 2010, accepting payments online was a nightmare. Businesses needed to navigate complex relationships with banks, payment processors, and financial institutions. Integration took months. International expansion required starting over in each country.

The Collisons saw this as a fundamental infrastructure problem. If you wanted to power global commerce, you needed payment rails as reliable and easy to use as electricity or water.

The Numbers That Matter

Under the Collisons' leadership, Stripe has achieved remarkable scale:

• $91.5 billion valuation as of February 2025
• $1 trillion in total payment volume processed in 2023
• 47+ countries where Stripe operates
• 135+ currencies and payment methods supported
• Millions of businesses from startups to Fortune 500 companies

But the real achievement was creating infrastructure that just works. Stripe's "seven lines of code" promise meant any developer could accept payments in minutes, not months.

The Infrastructure Mindset

Building Stripe taught the Collisons several crucial lessons that now inform their investment decisions:

1. Infrastructure compounds: The more businesses that depend on your platform, the more valuable it becomes
2. Developer experience matters: Great infrastructure feels magical to use
3. Global from day one: The internet is global, so infrastructure must be too
4. Reliability over features: Infrastructure must work 99.99% of the time
5. Enable new business models: Great infrastructure makes previously impossible businesses possible

These lessons shape every investment decision the brothers make.

The Investment Portfolio: Building Tomorrow's Infrastructure

With Patrick making 49+ investments and John also actively investing, the Collisons have assembled a portfolio that reflects their deep understanding of infrastructure and foundational technology.

Nuclear Fusion: Pacific Fusion

Patrick serves on the board of Pacific Fusion, a company working on nuclear fusion technology. This might seem unrelated to payments, but it perfectly illustrates the Collisons' infrastructure thinking.

Fusion represents the ultimate infrastructure play: unlimited clean energy that could power global civilization for centuries. Like Stripe enabling new business models through better payments, fusion could enable entirely new categories of human activity through abundant energy.

AI Research: Arc Institute

In 2021, Patrick co-founded Arc Institute, a nonprofit research organization focused on advancing biology through computational tools. His wife, Silvana Konermann, is a co-founder and Stanford biochemistry professor.

Arc Institute reflects the Collisons' belief that fundamental research is infrastructure for future innovation. By advancing our understanding of biology and developing new research tools, Arc enables the next generation of biotech companies.

Progress Studies and Fast Grants

In 2020, Patrick co-founded Fast Grants with economist Tyler Cowen to accelerate COVID-19 research. The program distributed over $200 million to researchers working on pandemic solutions, cutting typical grant timelines from months to days.

Fast Grants exemplifies the Collisons' approach: identify infrastructure bottlenecks (slow research funding) and build solutions that unlock innovation at scale.

Recent Investment: Rivan Industries

Patrick's most recent investment was in Rivan Industries in May 2025. While details are limited, this likely aligns with the Collisons' focus on foundational technology and infrastructure companies.

Investment Philosophy: Developer Tools and Infrastructure

The Collisons' investment approach centers on several key principles developed through building Stripe:

1. Developer Experience First

Having built tools used by millions of developers, the Collisons understand what makes technology adoption successful. They look for companies that prioritize developer experience and make complex technology simple to use.

2. Global Infrastructure Potential

Stripe operates globally, so the Collisons understand what it takes to build technology that works across different countries, cultures, and regulatory environments. They invest in companies with global infrastructure potential.

3. Enable New Business Models

The best infrastructure doesn't just make existing businesses better - it makes new businesses possible. Stripe enabled countless internet businesses that couldn't exist before. The Collisons look for similar enabling technologies.

4. Long-term Compound Growth

Infrastructure investments often take years to pay off but create enormous value through compounding effects. The Collisons think in decades, not quarters.

5. Solve Fundamental Problems

Instead of chasing trends, the Collisons focus on fundamental problems that need solving. These create larger markets and more defensible businesses.

The Science and Progress Focus

One unique aspect of the Collisons' investment approach is their focus on scientific progress and research infrastructure:

Progress Studies Movement

In 2019, Patrick published an influential piece with Tyler Cowen arguing for "Progress Studies" - a new academic discipline studying what drives technological and social progress.

This intellectual framework influences their investments. They back companies and institutions that could accelerate overall human progress, not just generate financial returns.

Fast Grants Model

Fast Grants proved that better funding infrastructure could dramatically accelerate scientific progress. The Collisons likely look for other opportunities to remove friction from research and development.

Interdisciplinary Approach

Through Arc Institute and their reading (Patrick publishes his reading lists), the Collisons maintain broad intellectual interests spanning science, technology, economics, and history. This interdisciplinary approach helps them spot opportunities others miss.

The Quiet Investment Strategy

Unlike some celebrity investors who publicize every deal, the Collisons maintain relatively low profiles as investors:

Strategic, Not Spray-and-Pray

With dozens rather than hundreds of investments, the Collisons appear selective about where they deploy capital. Quality over quantity aligns with their infrastructure mindset.

Leverage Stripe's Network

As Stripe serves millions of businesses, the Collisons have unique visibility into which technologies and business models are gaining traction. This deal flow advantage helps them spot promising companies early.

Focus on Value-Add

Having scaled a global infrastructure company, the Collisons can provide operational advice that pure financial investors can't match. They likely invest where they can add genuine strategic value.

Board Positions and Strategic Involvement

The Collisons' board positions reveal where they think they can add most value:

Meta Platforms (Patrick, joined April 2025)

Patrick's appointment to Meta's board signals his growing influence in Silicon Valley and his expertise in platform businesses and global infrastructure.

Stellar Development Foundation (Patrick, Advisor)

Stellar is building financial infrastructure for global payments, directly adjacent to Stripe's mission. Patrick's advisory role reflects his continued interest in payment infrastructure innovation.

Y Combinator (Patrick, former Partner)

Patrick's experience at Y Combinator, both as a founder (Auctomatic) and partner, gives him unique insight into early-stage companies and what separates winners from losers.

Investment Focus Areas

Based on public information, the Collisons seem focused on several key areas:

Financial Infrastructure

Beyond Stripe, they're interested in companies building new types of financial infrastructure - cryptocurrency platforms, treasury management tools, and international payment solutions.

Developer Tools and Platforms

Having built tools for developers, they understand the market for products that make developers more productive and enable new applications.

Research and Scientific Infrastructure

Through Arc Institute, Fast Grants, and their Progress Studies work, they're investing in institutions and companies that accelerate scientific progress.

Energy and Sustainability

Patrick's involvement with Pacific Fusion suggests interest in fundamental energy infrastructure that could power future economic growth.

AI and Computational Tools

Arc Institute's focus on computational biology indicates interest in companies using AI and computation to solve fundamental problems.

Lessons for Infrastructure Investors

The Collisons' approach offers several lessons for investors focused on infrastructure and foundational technology:

1. Think in Decades, Not Years

Infrastructure investments often take years to mature but create enormous long-term value. Patient capital combined with strategic guidance wins.

2. Focus on Developer Adoption

In technology, developers often decide which tools become standard. Great developer experience drives infrastructure adoption.

3. Global from Day One

The internet is global, so successful infrastructure must work globally. Don't build for just one market.

4. Enable New Business Models

The best infrastructure investments don't just improve existing businesses - they make entirely new businesses possible.

5. Understand Compounding Effects

Infrastructure creates network effects and compounding value. Small initial advantages can become massive moats over time.

The Future Infrastructure Bets

Based on their backgrounds and recent activities, the Collisons are likely focusing on several future infrastructure themes:

Climate Technology

With Pacific Fusion and their sustainability interests, they're probably investing in companies building infrastructure for the clean energy transition.

Biotech Infrastructure

Through Arc Institute, they're developing tools that could become infrastructure for the next generation of biotech companies.

AI Infrastructure

As AI becomes more prevalent, there will be massive opportunities in AI infrastructure - chips, tools, platforms, and services that enable AI applications.

Global Financial Infrastructure

Beyond payments, there are opportunities in treasury management, foreign exchange, lending, and other financial infrastructure as commerce becomes increasingly global.

The Compound Advantage

What makes the Collisons particularly effective as infrastructure investors is their compound advantage:

Operational Experience: They've built and scaled global infrastructure themselves Network Effects: Stripe's customer base provides unique market intelligence Global Perspective: They understand what it takes to build technology that works globally Long-term Thinking: They think in decades, matching infrastructure investment timelines Technical Depth: They can evaluate complex technology and understand what's actually possible

The Bottom Line: Infrastructure Investors for the Next Decade

Patrick and John Collison represent a new breed of investor: entrepreneurs who built foundational infrastructure and now invest in the next generation of infrastructure companies.

Their approach - focus on developer experience, think globally, enable new business models, solve fundamental problems - reflects hard-won lessons from scaling Stripe into one of the world's most valuable private companies.

For entrepreneurs building infrastructure companies, the Collisons represent ideal investors: they understand the challenges, can provide strategic guidance, and think with the long-term perspective that infrastructure businesses require.

For other investors, the Collisons' approach offers a blueprint for infrastructure investing: focus on foundational technology, prioritize global scalability, and think about what new business models your investments might enable.

The next decade will likely see massive infrastructure buildouts in AI, climate technology, biotech, and financial services. The Collison brothers are positioning themselves at the center of these trends, using lessons learned from building Stripe to identify and support the next generation of infrastructure companies.

In a world increasingly powered by software and digital infrastructure, the Collisons' combination of operational experience, global perspective, and long-term thinking makes them uniquely positioned to identify which companies will become the foundational infrastructure of tomorrow's economy.