Payments processor Stripe, founded in San Francisco by Irish entrepreneur brothers John and Patrick Collison, has raised $6.5 billion in a financing round.

Finextra.com reports that the new round values Stripe at $50 billion, a sharp discount on its last funding round in March 2021, which was made at a $95 billion valuation.

Primary investors include existing Stripe shareholders - Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, MSD Partners, and Thrive Capital - as well as new investors including GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and Temasek.

“Stripe does not need this capital to run its business,” the company emphasized. Rather the funds raised will be used to provide liquidity to current and former employees and address tax obligations related to equity awards.

“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,” 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,” he added.
 

To note, in early February several foreign media, citing their own sources, reported that the payments giant Stripe was in talks to raise up to $3 billion in investments. New York Times, The Wall Street and The Information wrote that in a new investment round, Stripe’s valuation could reach $55-60 billion.

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