No More Four-Year Lockups: Stripe’s Sprint to a $7 Billion Fundraising Haul

Two years ago, when Stripe raised money at a valuation of $95 billion, the payments giant had such an upper hand over investors that it could institute some highly unusual conditions in its fundraising round. Investors had to agree to hold onto their shares for four years after the company went public. And Stripe had the option to sell them even more shares at the 2021 round’s valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Stripe’s latest sprint to raise more than $7 billion in its most recent fundraising—a number higher than previously announced—went very differently.