Payments company Stripe has slashed its valuation by 28%, becoming the latest privately-funded fintech to suffer from the repercussions of a sustained sell off of tech shares.
Stripe was last valued at $95 billion after a $600 million funding round sealed in March 2021.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the company informed employees of the mark down by e-mail last week, setting its implied share price at $29, versus the previous calculation of $40. The decision wipes $21 billion off the company's valuation, cutting the headline figure to $74 billion.
Asked about the company's valuation at the Money20/20 show in Amsterdam last month, Stripe co-founder John Collison was relaxed on the topic, noting that the company had plenty of runway with cash in the bank
Could Stripe raise again at that value, he was asked? “I don’t know, we haven’t tried. Stripe the business has grown a lot since then, but then valuations have gone down…”
On the recessionary slow-down in fintech, Collison had this advice: “Don’t worry about valuations, worry about fundamentals.” In a downturn sell on cost savings and expect a flight to quality. “But you can’t use the 2021 pitch. It definitely needs to be a 2022 pitch.”