Full Disclosure: All Facts Matter Uses Stripe
This is an unusual posting, but, given the turmoil in banking and finance recently, is probably warranted.
Stripe is a privately held payment processing platform that enables many businesses to process payments online. All Facts Matter uses their platform to process subscriptions. That is the only connection I have to the company.
The reason for mentioning this is the rather unusual capital raise Stripe just completed.
SAN FRANCISCO AND DUBLIN—Stripe, which builds economic infrastructure for the internet, has signed agreements for a Series I fundraise of more than $6.5 billion (€6.15 billion) at a $50B (€47B) 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.
The funds raised will be used to provide liquidity to current and former employees and address employee withholding tax obligations related to equity awards, resulting in the retirement of Stripe shares that will offset the issuance of new shares to Series I investors. Stripe does not need this capital to run its business.
Two aspects of this fundraising are noteworthy:
Stripe is using the proceeds to resolve potential outstanding tax liabilities surrounding expiring equity awards given to current and former employees. It is not being used, per Stripe, for ongoing operations or capital investment.
Stripe’s $50 Billion valuation is roughly half the valuation it had in 2021.
Payment processor Stripe raised $6.5 billion at a $50 billion valuation, the company said Wednesday, a sharp discount from its record valuation of $95 billion in 2021.
Whether the decline in valuation represents a concern over Stripe’s future or whether the tech market was simply that frothy in 2021 I cannot say. Certainly a quick search on Twitter for “Stripe valuation” yields a number of comments that are decidedly negative regarding the company. I take them with a grain of salt.
At this time I am not aware of any difficulties in processing subscription payments to All Facts Matter. If the funding is not needed for ongoing operations there is no reasons to suspect that there will be difficulties in the future.
Still, should Stripe become an important aspect of a future article dealing with the current turmoil in banking and finance, full disclosure is the best means for avoiding compromising credibility when discussing these matters.