Stripe ['s leadership] doesn't want to IPO, and its balance sheet doesn't need to. There's ridiculous demand for a Stripe IPO, whether it could is not at all in question.

An IPO is, if anything, a bad thing for a company. I wouldn't consider it a black mark that they aren't selling stock publicly and subjecting themselves to the "must grow every quarter at all costs" insanity.

You can make plenty of money and still be private. Look at Steam.

I’d say it’s not enough to satisfy early investors, who probably want a 10~50x return before IPO. They could definitely go public if they wanted to, and do ‘well’.

Does Stripe need to IPO? Are they just privately held, or do they have VCs or others that need to be paid back?

They have raised at least $6.5 Billion.