Stripe raises $6.5b to cover tax obligations and compensate employees

Major payments processing company Stripe has received a new injection of funds that brings the company’s valuation to $50 billion, nearly half of the valuation recorded in 2021. 

In a press release on March 15, 2023, Stripe announced that the fintech startup had signed an agreement to raise $6.5 billion in a Series I round. According to the company, the new capital will not be used for business operations but rather to cover tax obligations related to stock compensation for the firm’s former and current employees and provide liquidity. 

“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.”

John Collison, co-founder and president of Stripe

The funding round values the company at $50 billion, down from the $95 billion recorded in 2021. Since then, Stripe has reduced its internal valuation twice, with the fintech startup valued at $63 billion in January 2023. In November 2022, the firm slashed 40% of its workforce, citing inflation, increased interest rates, and limited startup funding as part of the reason for the decision. 

Participants in the Series I fundraising include existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, MSD Partners, and General Catalyst. At the same time, new backers such as Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, GIC, and Temasek were involved in the fundraising. Also, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan served as Stripe’s sole placement agent and financial advisor, respectively. 

Stripe and crypto

Stripe, which halted support for bitcoin (BTC) payments in 2018 due to volatility and inefficiency, launched a new service in March 2022 to support crypto payments on its platform. The company also partnered with the microblogging platform Twitter in April 2022 to enable USDC payouts for content creators. 

Later in December 2022, Stripe announced the unveiling of its fiat-to-crypto onramp, a customizable widget for web 3 developers which can be embedded directly into their decentralized exchange (DEX), decentralized application (dapp), wallet, or non-fungible token (NFT) platform. The widget also allows end users to perform instant crypto settlements.