San Francisco-based Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, announced on Wednesday, March 15, that it has raised more than $6.5B (approximately €6.15B) in a Series I round of funding at a $50B (approximately €47B) valuation, which is around 50 per cent lower than its 2021 valuation of $95B (approximately €79.65B).
In 2021, the company raised $600M (approx €503M) in funding at a valuation of $95B (approx €79.65B).
The capital comes from the existing Stripe shareholders Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, MSD Partners, and Thrive Capital.
New investors GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and Temasek, also participated in the round.
Stripe says it will use the funds to provide liquidity to current and former employees, and address employee withholding tax obligations related to equity awards.
As a result, it will help in compensating for the issuance of new shares to Series I investors, says the company.
“Over the last 12 years, current and former Stripes have helped build foundational economic infrastructure for millions of businesses around the world, and this transaction allows them to access the value they’ve helped create,” says John Collison, co-founder and president of Stripe.
“But the internet economy is still young, and the opportunities of the next 12 years will dwarf those of the recent past. There’s so much to discover and to create. For us, it’s now back to work,” adds Collison.
Goldman Sachs served as the sole placement agent on the transaction while J.P. Morgan acted as a financial advisor.
Stripe: Online payment processing giant
Stripe is a technology company based in San Francisco, California, that provides a suite of payment processing and related software services for businesses.
Founded in 2010 by brothers Patrick and John Collison, Stripe has become a leading provider of online payment infrastructure, enabling businesses of all sizes to accept payments from customers globally.
The company offers a range of tools for businesses, including payment processing, fraud prevention, subscription billing, and more.
The company’s enterprise user base has compounded since 2019 and now includes some of the largest global enterprises like Amazon, Ford, Salesforce, BMW, and Maersk.
Stripe says Stripe Atlas, an easy-to-use platform that helps launch a startup from anywhere in the world easily, saw a 155 per cent increase in incorporations from 2019 to 2022.
One hundred businesses now handle more than $1B on Stripe every year. Seventy-five percent of these companies use Stripe for more than just payments, and over 70 per cent use Stripe to manage operations across multiple countries.
“Stripe’s strategy is inherently indexed to secular trends that will only compound for decades to come: the growth of the internet economy and the trajectories of the world’s most innovative and forward-looking companies,” says Josh Kushner, founder and CEO of Thrive Capital.
“Stripe will continue to be at the epicenter of every new technology currently, and is the de facto choice for the businesses and builders that are creating the future. This is why we first invested in Stripe in 2014, and why we are proud to deepen our partnership,” adds Kushner.
