Thrive Capital, the investment firm founded by Joshua Kushner, is leading a potential investment in payment provider Stripe at a valuation of $55 billion to $60 billion, a sharp drop from two years ago, two people with knowledge said. of the matter.
Stripe is aiming to raise roughly $2.5 billion, one of the people said. Thrive has committed $1 billion, said another person familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity because the talks are confidential.
If completed, the funding could give Stripe some breathing room amid a tough market for public listings. The money is expected to be used to pay the start-up’s tax liabilities and allow its employees to sell their shares in the company. Many private tech companies use stock options to help hire employees, but a faltering market for public offerings has made it difficult for employees to retire those shares. Some Stripe employees have stock grants that will begin to expire next year if the company doesn’t go public or raise new funding, a person familiar with the situation said.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Stripe he had considered raising new funds.
Stripe’s moves are being scrutinized because it was once the most valued private company in the United States. The way it responds to an inhospitable public offering market could be a harbinger of how others handle it.
The company, which brothers John and Patrick Collison founded in 2010, has hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to advise it on a possible IPO next year. Last week she told employees that she was considering multiple routes to allow her employees to withdraw cash within 12 months.
Among the options is listing Stripe’s shares on the public market. Another is to raise money privately followed by a takeover bid, in which the company would sell employee shares to other investors while remaining private. The new financing does not mean that a public listing is off the table, said one of the people with knowledge of the matter.
A valuation of $55 billion to $60 billion would be a steep drop for a company that last raised money at a valuation of about $95 billion in 2021. Stripe sells payment processing software to companies like Peloton, Wayfair and Amazon.
Over the past year, the start-up financing environment has deteriorated amid rising interest rates and a renewed focus on profits. Some tech companies have found it harder to attract new investment and many startups have had to cut their costs.
For Thrive, known for its investments in startups like Skims, Warby Parker and SpaceX, a billion-dollar bet is a big check. Kushner has been trying to move the firm out of the shadow of his older brother, Jared, who was a top adviser to his mother-in-law, former President Donald J. Trump.
Thrive closed a $3 billion fund, its largest yet, last year. In the past week, Announced that he had sold a minority stake in the firm to executives including Disney CEO Robert Iger and Henry Kravis, co-founder of private equity firm KKR. The deal valued Thrive at $5.3 billion. It is also in talks to invest in the artificial intelligence company OpenAI.
erin griffith contributed reporting.
