Digital payments company Stripe announced Wednesday that it has raised more than $6.5 billion at a $50 billion valuation.
Why it’s important: This is much more than the company had expected to raise, albeit at a lower price.
- All proceeds will be used to help Stripe employees meet tax liabilities related to the pending expiration of restricted stock units, plus fund a new stock purchase offering to current and former employees.
- No profits will be used to fund Stripe’s own tax liabilities related to the RSUs.
- The share offering is voluntary, with employees entitled to sell as few or as many vested shares as they wish (ie zero-100%).
Back story: Stripe had considered letting employees get cash through a public stock offering, but ultimately decided that the private transaction would be faster and give the company more flexibility.
- The company, which powers online payments for companies like Amazon and Lyft, was valued at $5.95 billion by venture capitalists in March 2021, up from $35 billion just three months earlier.
- The early talk was that the new round would be completed at a value of around $60 billion.
New investors the round included GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management and Temasek.
- Back backers included Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, MSD Partners and Thrive Capital.
Go deeper: Stripe’s efforts to correct past mistakes