Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, which owns 16% of stablecoin platform Bridge, may rake in $100 million from Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of the firm.
Sequoia made a $19 million investment in the crypto firm’s Series A round, which occurred within the last year, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 29, citing people familiar with the matter.
Other VC firms are also set for hundreds of millions of dollars in windfalls from their stakes in Bridge, including Ribbit Capital, Haun Ventures, Index Ventures and Bedrock Fund Management.
The big returns came faster than normal for the VCs, especially in crypto, where venture funding has dropped significantly since its 2022 heyday as the market cooled and the broader startup space slumped.
VC funding amounts and deal counts have mostly slid since hitting a peak at the start of 2022. Source: Galaxy Digital
Ribbit’s stake in Bridge is around 10% and is worth about $100 million, while Bedrock and Index Ventures both own roughly 6%, and Kathryn Haun’s venture firm owns 4%.
Bridge — sometimes called the crypto industry’s answer to Stripe — runs a stablecoin payments network allowing businesses access to the tokens.
It was founded by ex-Coinbase executives Zach Abrams and Sean Yu in 2022 to compete with credit card companies and the global payments network SWIFT.
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Stripe, which provides traditional payments processing services, finalized its $1.1 billion bid to acquire Bridge on Oct. 20. It came just six months after Stripe co-founder John Collison promised the firm would support stablecoins by “this summer.”
It is one of the biggest-ever acquisitions in the crypto industry, and Bridge reportedly caught Stripe’s attention partly due to its quick growth, as the stablecoin platform recently reached a $14 million run rate — which continues to climb.
Stripe’s acquisition of the crypto company is still pending regulatory approval and is likely to close in the next few months.
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