Stripe tried to raise more funding at $55B-$60B valuation • TechCrunch

When the payment giant Stripe raised $600 million to a valuation of $95 billion by 2021, it made headlines for raising capital at the highest valuation ever for a privately held startup.

Defending this valuation appears to be challenging. The fintech company has reportedly approached investors to raise more capital — at least $2 billion — at a valuation of $55 billion to $60 billion. according to The Wall Street Journal, Stripe would not use the money for operating expenses, but rather to cover a large annual tax bill related to employee shares. It is not clear if any discussions are ongoing.

That information came to light same day as Stripe reportedly told employees it had it set a deadline of 12 months for himself to either go public or carry out a transaction on the private market.

TechCrunch has reached out to Stripe for comment, but had not heard back by press time.

The news comes after several months of apparent infighting at Stripe. In November, it temporarily laid off 14% of employees, or about 1,120 people, said they had ‘too tired for the world we’re in.’ And the company has cut its internal valuation more than once in the past year. Earlier this month, TechCrunch reported that Stripe had cut its internal valuation to 63 billion dollars. The cut of 11% came after an internal valuation cuts that occurred over six months previously, which valued the company at $74 billion.

Raising more capital at a $55 billion to $60 billion valuation would certainly qualify as a down round — but Stripe is unlikely to be the first major fintech to do so. Peer European and BNPL behemoth Klarna raised $800 million at a valuation of $6.7 billion, an 85% drop from the $45.6 billion it was valued at in June 2021.

By 2021, Stripe reportedly had gross revenues of $12 billion and was EBITDA profitable, according to Forbes. The company’s products, in its own words, power payments for online and in-person retailers, subscription businesses, software platforms and marketplaces, “and everything in between.” It has not published revenue figures since 2021.

Stripe is one of many highly valued fintech startups that have hit the roads recently. In December, decacorn Plaid laid down 260 employees, or about 20% of the workforce, said they had “hired and invested ahead of revenue growth.”

In particular, the two companies had a bit of a public competition last year – despite being partners – when Stripe was unveiled in May a new product, Financial connections. The new product was designed to give Stripe’s customers a way to connect directly to customers’ bank accounts, to access financial data to expedite or drive certain types of transactions — exactly what Plaid has done historically. Plaid came out swinging months later, unveiling its own payment pressure.

Founded in Ireland by brothers John and brother Patrick Collison (CEO), Stripe has raised over $2.2 billion in funding since inception from investors such as Allianz – via the Allianz X fund, Axa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Base Partners, GV and an investor from the founders’ home country, Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).