As an alternative to an exit, secondary share sales have been seized upon by fintech firms looking to raise funds and increase liquidity for employee stockholders, with Plaid and Stripe the latest to go to market.
Stripe is considering arranging a sale of shares held by employees that would value the company at $85 billion or more acccording to tech news site The Information.
The transaction would extend a series of share buybacks, secondary sales and fundraises that have lifted the payments provider’s valuation close to its $95 billion peak in the go-go years of the early 2020s.
The new valuation would represent an increase of at least 20% from an employee-share sale arranged and financed by Stripe late last summer.
US open banking firm Plaid is also preparing to join the gold rush. The firm is reportedly working with Goldman Sachs on a deal to allow early-stage investors and employees to sell existing shares, which will raise between $300 million and $400 million.
Plaid previously raised $425 million in a Series D funding round back in 2021 at a $13.4 billion valuation.
Previous fintech companies to benefit from secondary share sales include UK Super App Revolut, which reached a $45 billion valuation in August from the share sell off, and challenger bank Monzo which scored a $5.9 billion valuation from its own share sale.
In October British savings and investment app Moneybox secured £70 million in investment, mostly facilitated through a secondary share sale that nearly doubled its valuation from two years ago to £550 million.