Mar 22, 2023

Payments giant looks to ASEAN for growth as valuation almost halves. Singaporean state-owned investors GIC and Temasek Holdings joined the latest USD 6.5 billion fundraising by Stripe, one of fintech’s largest startups, at a valuation almost half of what it was at its peak. The fund will allow the payment processing giant to cover billions of dollars of tax liability faced by some of its earliest employees so they can exercise options and cash out stakes in the company that would have otherwise expired in the coming months. The San Francisco- and Dublin-headquartered company stressed it “does not need this capital to run its business.” The round valued Stripe at around USD 50 billion, the company said on Wednesday in the U.S., down from USD 95 billion in 2021. Other investors include existing shareholders like U.S. venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Scotland-based Baillie Gifford, and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, according to the company. GIC and Temasek, some of the world’s largest state-owned investors, have been investing more heavily in tech startups operating in and outside Asia , where the pace of digitization is rapidly increasing. The Singaporean investors’ stake in Stripe was not disclosed. GIC did not respond to a request for comment. Temasek confirmed its investment but did not provide further details. Founded in 2010, Stripe began processing payments for startups and e-commerce companies looking to handle multiple payment methods such as credit cards, bank transfers, and digital wallets. In an interview with Nikkei Asia last year, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison described how growth in Asian markets “will be a critical pillar.” Collison said that the company was “cash-flow positive” and added, “[w]e don’t need to raise primary capital.” In Southeast Asia, the company entered Singapore in 2016, then Malaysia and Thailand last year. Stripe partners with Singapore-based superapp operator Grab in the city-state and Malaysia, processing GrabPay users’ online payments. The region’s digital payments market in 2030 is expected to hit USD 2 trillion by transaction value, up threefold from a decade earlier, according to a Google-led study of six regional economies. Stripe’s clients include e-commerce giants like Amazon and Canada’s Shopify. The company has been focusing on large enterprises, with Japan’s Toyota Motor and All Nippon Airways becoming some of its latest users in Asia. RELATED ARTICLE