Reports: Visa invests in digital payments startup Stripe

Visa has reportedly invested in the digital payments service Stripe, part of a round of funding that values the startup at $5 billion.

According to The New York Times and Re/code, credit card company American Express is also among investors in Stripe, which specializes in offering digital payment services for businesses.

Visa also reached a deal with Stripe to look at new ways to improve digital payments and beef up security.

The investment arrives as the digital payments market begins heating up. Stripe faces multiple competitors including Square, founded by Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey, and PayPal, which was recently spun off into a standalone company by eBay.

There's also several tech giants pushing for a piece of the mobile payments space, including Apple with Apple Pay, Google with Android Pay and Samsung.

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