Payment acceptance and business management platform Stripe announced an extension of its $250 million Series G funding round today. The additional $600 million in funds come from existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, GV, and Sequoia.
The investment is Stripe’s largest so far and brings the California-based company’s total funding to $1.6 billion.
The company will use the new funds to hire more staff, invest in its software, make strategic acquisitions, and expand internationally. Stripe has launches pending in Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, and Romania.
Stripe first announced its Series G round in September of last year, in a pre-COVID-19 world. However, despite the vast differences in the global economy at that time, the company’s valuation has actually increased– from $35 billion last September to $36 billion today.
A $1 billion rise in valuation is rare these days, when startups across the globe have been told to brace for down rounds. The company attributes this boost to the increased digital adoption that has occurred as a result of businesses moving their operations online because of the coronavirus.
“People who never dreamt of using the internet to see the doctor or buy groceries are now doing so out of necessity. And businesses that deferred moving online or had no reason to operate online have made the leap practically overnight,” said John Collison, Stripe president and co-founder. “We believe now is not the time to pull back, but to invest even more heavily in Stripe’s platform.”
Stripe was founded in 2010 and has since padded its client base with well-known firms such as Caviar, Coupa, Just Eat, Keap, Lightspeed, Mattel, NBC, Paid, and Zoom– a partnership that was just unveiled today.