The financial services company Stripe, which processes payments, raised $6.5 billion on Wednesday in a capital round supported by both current and new investors. The company was valued at a significantly lower $50 billion, or approximately 50% less than two years ago.
Stripe claims that it will use the funds to cover a large tax penalty associated with stock grants granted to employees and to provide them with liquidity.
According to a person familiar with the situation who asked to remain anonymous because these discussions were private, about $3.5 billion of the recently generated capital will be used to pay the tax bill, and the remaining amount will be used to purchase shares from employees.
The fintech startup‘s valuation, which was put at $95 billion in March 2021, has significantly decreased as a result of its most recent financing.
According to Stripe, its operations did not require additional funding. According to a statement from the business, venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, MSD Partners, and Thrive Capital sponsored the most recent fundraising round.
Although Stripe still intends to move forward with an IPO eventually, this year is unlikely to see it happen, the source added.
According to the source, Stripe initially planned to raise $4 billion but ultimately experienced greater investor interest than expected.
According to Stripe, new investors included Temasek, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and the GIC sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.
Investors have become warier as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening drains out surplus money after years of writing large checks for high-flying companies.
Cash burn and other startup KPIs are being examined more carefully. The Swedish purchase-now, pay-later industry leader Klarna raised money last year as well, albeit at a much lower valuation.
Amazon.com Inc., Ford Motor Co., Salesforce, and BMW are just a few of the companies that use Stripe, and the company has previously stated that it wants to become profitable before going public.
The sole placement agent for the investment round was Goldman Sachs. According to Stripe, J.P. Morgan served as the company’s financial advisor.
