Bitcoin Payment Processor Stripe’s Valuation To Hit $9.2 billion After New Funding Round
Stripe, a provider of a payment interface that allows companies to accept bitcoin, will be valued at $9.2 billion when a new funding round adding $150 million completes, according to MarketWatch .
Other fintech firms and some Silicon Valley tech startups have struggled to maintain their valuations. The share price for Square Inc., for instance, has stagnated since that company went public in 2015.
General Catalyst Partners and Capital G., an investing arm of Alphabet Inc., co-led the funding round, which also included Sequoia Capital. Michael Moritz, a Sequoia Capital partner, said it was a bullish sign that Stripe could sell new equity at a significantly higher valuation in a buyer’s market.
Stripe separately received a credit line from banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Barclays PLC, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
Stripe On Acquisition Trail
Wayne Gaybrick, Stripe chief financial officer, said Stripe raised the funds to acquire companies and invest in global expansion. Stripe has acquired three firms and launched in France, Japan, France, Singapore and Spain this year.
Stripe’s investors think the company can capitalize on the growth of online payments as consumers transfer more offline spending to Internet retailers and as Stripe continues to grow internationally.
Stripe is growing faster than Square, which is expected grow 40% this year.
Also read: Stripe completes beta bitcoin test; offers merchants bitcoin
Investors Are Bullish
Stripe’s valuation is partly based on the view that more commerce will move to mobile apps even when people are in stores, since wallets like Apple’s Apple Pay and J.P. Morgan’s Chase Pay can be tapped or scanned at checkout.
Stripe has added traditional merchants, such as Target Corp., to its client base that also includes Lyft Inc. and eyeglasses retailer Warby Parker.
Stripe also launched Radar, a service using Stripe’s transaction data, to detect fraudulent payments, as well as Atlas, which enables foreign firms to incorporate in the U.S. and use U.S. payment infrastructure.
Stripe earlier this year announced that its Stripe Atlas service will be available to businesses in Cuba. The offering is designed to allow Cubans to have an Internet-based business in a country that has almost no infrastructure to support such a business.
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