Since the late January 2023 rumors of Stripe’s exploration of going public, scrutiny of the fintech’s woes has mounted.
Once valued at $95 billion, Stripe has been slipping, its most recent valuation languishing around the $50 billion mark. An IPO seems off the table for the time being.
Commentators with 20/20 hindsight are bemoaning the delayed decision to go public, stating it should have happened in March 2021, when the company was at its peak.
To add salt to the wound, a tax bill looms ever closer, and the company has had to turn to its investors to fill the $4 billion gap.
RELATED: Stripe considers IPO, sparking hope in the industry
Yesterday, Wednesday, March 16, the company announced it had managed to raise an impressive $6.5 billion in Series I funding at their valuation of $50 billion.
Veteran investors in the company returned with their support and were joined by new investors, including GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and Temasek.
“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,” said Josh Kushner, founder, and CEO of Thrive Capital, a returning investor.
“Stripe will continue to be at the epicenter of every new technology current and is the de facto choice for the businesses and builders creating the future.”
Reuters has reported that $3.5 billion of the capital raised would go towards the tax bill, while the remaining $3 billion would be used to buy back shares.
“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,” said 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.”
