Stripe raises $6.5bn Series I at a $50bn valuation

Irish-American digital payments giant Stripe announced on Wednesday that it has raised $6.5 billion in a Series I funding round at a valuation of $50 billion, down from $95 billion in March 2021.

The new round saw participation from Stripe’s existing shareholders Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, MSD Partners, Thrive Capital, and also new investors such as GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and Temasek.

The financial services company said that it would use the funds to ‘’provide liquidity to current and former employees and address employee withholding tax obligations related to equity awards, resulting in the retirement of Stripe shares that will offset the issuance of new shares to Series I investors’’.

‘’Stripe does not need this capital to run its business,’’ it added.

Stripe’s Co-founder and President John Collison said: “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 gives them the opportunity to access the value they’ve helped create.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.”

In late January, the Wall Street Journal reported that Stripe set a 12-month deadline to decide whether it should go public or allow its employees to sell their shares in a private-market transaction. It hired Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to make a healthier decision, the report added.

The company previously reduced its valuation to $74 billion in July 2022, and reportedly to $63 billion in January this year. Meanwhile, it cut 14% of its workforce in November, laying off 1,120 employees.