Stripe becomes the world’s second most valuable startup

The most recent funding round at Stripe is both a blessing and a small headache.

Founded in 2010 by a pair of brothers in Ireland, Stripe revealed late Sunday that it had raised $600 million in funding, valuing it at $95 billion. Investors included Allianz X, Axa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sequoia Capital, and Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency. The round will be used to fund Stripe’s European operations, the company revealed. 

“Whether in fintech, mobility, retail or SaaS, the growth opportunity for the European digital economy is immense,” John Collison, president and co-founder, said in a statement. 

More than 200,000 new companies signed up to Stripe in Europe since the start of the pandemic, the company told the Financial Times.

The rise in the payments company’s valuation signals not only a surge in e-commerce and online payments, but also investors’ willingness to sink hundreds of millions into later-stage private companies. The new round marks Stripe as the second most valuable startup in the world behind China’s ByteDance, according to CBInsights. 

So where’s the headache? Well, the new round will certainly bring about even more speculation around a potential initial public offering. Those questions, from when to where the company might consider an IPO, have swirled for a while now, especially over developments in the past year: The company named former General Motors CFO Dhivya Suryadevara as its own CFO in August, and former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney joined its board in February.

And it may have to face those same questions for a while yet. Stripe is currently not focused on an IPO, Suryadevara told Bloomberg.

BEHIND THE CURTAINS AT ONE OF THE MOST SECRETIVE INVESTMENT FIRMS: Iconiq Capital is among the most secretive and well-connected firms in Silicon Valley. Led by South African-born businessman Divesh Makan, the firm’s name became well-known early on for amassing a group of influential clientele including Mark Zuckerberg and linking Silicon Valley with the Hollywood scene. Here’s a fascinating read from Business Insider delving into the investment management firm. Read more.

ALSO OF NOTE: On Monday, new rules allowing companies to raise as much as $5 million via crowdfunding went into effect. The limit was previously around $1.1 million.

Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email:  [email protected]

VENTURE DEALS

- ElevateBio, a Cambridge, Mass.-based cell and gene therapy technology company, raised $525 million in a Series C funding. Matrix Capital Management led the round and was joined by investors including SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Fidelity Research & Management Company.

- insitro, a South San Francisco-based drug discovery and development company, raised $400 million in a Series C funding. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board led the round and was joined by investors including Andreessen Horowitz and T. Rowe Price Associates.

- Airtable, a San Francisco-based cloud collaboration  company, raised $270 million. Greenoaks Capital led the round and was joined by investors including  WndrCo, Caffeinated Capital, CRV, and Thrive. 

- Graphite Bio, a South San Francisco, Calif.-based gene editing company, raised $150 million in Series B funding. RA Capital Management and Rock Springs Capital led the round and were joined by investors including Cormorant Asset Management, Deerfield Management Company, and Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds.

- Skeleton Technologies, an Estonia-based maker of energy storage systems, raised $61 million. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany and the Free State of Saxony invested. Read more.

- DeepSee.ai, a Salt Lake City-based process automation company, raised $22.6 million in Series A funding ForgePoint Capital led the round and was joined by investors including AllegisCyber Capital and Signal Peak Ventures. 

- Zeller, a Melbourne-based payments startup, raised A$25 million ($19.4 million) in Series A funding. Addition led and was joined by investors including Square Peg and Apex Capital. Read more.

- Kutumb, an India-based social media company, is in talks to raise $15 to $20 million in Series A funding that would value it around $170 million, per TechCrunch. Tiger Global is at the other side of the table. Read more.

- JetClosing, a Seattle-based maker of home closing software and services, raised $11 million in Series B funding. T. Rowe Price Associates, Pioneer Square Labs, and Trilogy Equity invested.

- Gatsby, a New York-based stock trading mobile app, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Investors included Techstars Ventures and Beta Bridge Capital.

- HelloSelf, a London-based digital therapy service, raised £5.5 million ($7.7 million) in Series A funding. OMERS Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Manta Ray Ventures, Oxford Capital Partners, and 2EnablePartners. 

- upSWOT, a Charlotte, N.C.-based fintech platform for finance companies to serve small to medium business clients, raised $4.3 million in seed funding. Common Ocean Ventures led the round.

- Clinical Research IO (CRIO), a Boston-based firm for clinical trials, raised $3.5 million in Series A funding. Rally Ventures led the round.

- GloveBox, a Denver-based maker of a self-service app for insurance policy holders, raised $3 million. Mercato Partner led the round and was joined by investors including Heffernan Insurance Brokers.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Hellman & Friedman will acquire Cardinal Health’s Cordis medical device business in a deal valued at about $1 billion. 

- Apollo Global Management ended talks to acquire the operating assets of Greensill, the U.K.-based fintech, for $60 million after a JPMorgan investment in Greensill’s technology partner, per Reuters. Read more.

- American Securities agreed to acquire Conair, a  Stamford, Conn.-based provider of kitchen electric appliances, personal care and beauty products. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Best Value Healthcare, backed by Arsenal Capital Partners, acquired MAXhealth, a Sarasota, Fla.-based primary care operator operating in the western part of the state. Financial terms weren't disclosed. 

- Dental Intelligence, backed by PSG, acquired Modento, an Issaquah, Wash.-based dental patient communications and management platform. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- BC Partners’s negotiations for an investment in FC Internazionale Milano, an Italian soccer team have stalled, per Bloomberg. Read more.

- Lindsay Goldberg agreed to acquire ARYZTA North America, a provider of frozen baked goods in the U.S. And Canada, from ARYZTA AG in Switzerland. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

EXITS

- Warburg Pincus agreed to acquire a minority stake in Edelman Financial Engines, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based investment advisory services provider, for$7.3 billion including debt, per Reuters. Read more.

- Astorg agreed to acquire Xceptor, a U.K.-based process automation market firm, from CBPE Capital. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

OTHER

- Flutter Entertainment is weighing potential options for FanDuel, its U.S.-based sports betting site, including an IPO. Read more.

- SailPoint Technologies Holdings (NYSE: SAIL) agreed to acquire ERP Maestro, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.s-based governance, risk and compliance solution. AdvancedStage Capital backs the firm. 

BANKRUPTCIES

- Griddy Energy, the Texas power retailer, will file for bankruptcy, per the Wall Street Journal. Read more.

IPO

- Social Capital Hedosophia, formed by SPAC evangelists Chamath Palihapitiya and Ian Osborne, is gearing up for a $1 billion listing an acquisition company in London focused on climate change, per Bloomberg. The deal would not be structured like a SPAC and would seek to acquire multiple businesses. Read more.

- Megvii Technology, a Shanghai-based A.I.  Startup plans to go public in Shanghai and raise as much as $922 million. Alibaba backs the firm. Read more.

- Tuya, a Hangzhou, China-based maker of an IoT cloud platform for smart devices, now plans to raise $806 million in an offering of 43.6 million ADSs priced between $17 to $20. Investors including NEA and Tencent back the firm. Insiders Tencent and Hillhouse Capital plan to acquire $500 million worth of ADSs in the offering. Read more.

- Torchy’s Tacos, an Austin, Tx.-based Mexican food chain, is preparing for a potential IPO that could raise $300 million and value it at $1 billion, per Bloomberg. General Atlantic backs the firm. Read more.

- Connect Biopharma Holdings, a Taicang, China-based company focused on inflammatory diseases, filed to raise $150 million in an offering of 9.4 million ADSs priced between $15 to $17. Qiming Venture Partners and RA Capital Management back the firm. Read more.

- Smart Share Global, a Chinese operator of device charging stations, filed to raise $100 million. Alibaba backs the firm. Read more.

- JOANN Stores, the Hudson, Oh.-based craft store operator, raised $131 million after previously seeking to raise as much as $186 million. Leonard Green & Partners backs the firm. Read more.

F+FS

- High Alpha Capital, an Indianapolis-based software venture firm, closed a $110 million fund focused on enterprise cloud companies.

SPAC

- Thoma Bravo Advantage, Thoma Bravo’s special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is in talks to take IronSource, an Israel-based mobile marketing company, public at a valuation of about $10 billion, per Bloomberg. Read more.

- IronNet Cybersecurity, a McLean, Va.-based cybersecurity firm, agreed to go public via merger with LGL Systems Acquisition, a SPAC, valuing the combined firm at $1.2 billion. Investors including Bridgewater Associates, ForgePoint Capital, and Kleiner Perkins are investors.

- KORE Wireless Group, an Atlanta, Ga.-based Internet of Things solutions company, agreed to go public via merger with Cerberus Telecom Acquisition, a SPAC associated with Cerberus Capital Management. A deal would value the combined firm at $1 billion.

- FirstMark Acquisition II, a SPAC from FirstMark Capital seeking a technology target, filed to raise $200 million.  Read more.

FFS

- Greensoil PropTech Ventures, a Canadian firm making sustainability-based investments in the real estate industry, has raised about half of its $100 million target for its second fund.

PEOPLE

- Blackstone, a New York-based private equity and real estate investor, named Scott Bomme r as chief investment officer of the Blackstone Horizon platform.