Stripe has seen its value drop by nearly half after the company raised $6.5 billion from investors this week.

The payments FinTech is now worth $50 billion, down from its $95 billion valuation following a $600 million funding round in 2021.

The company said this latest investment will be used to provide liquidity to current and former employees and “address employee withholding tax obligations related to equity awards”, resulting in the retirement of Stripe shares that will “offset the issuance of new shares to Series I investors”.

It told shareholders that it does not need this capital to run its business.

The funding round comes after Stripe announced plans to cut over 1,000 staff – or 14 per cent of its workforce.

At the time, the company's chief executive blamed the move on "stubborn inflation", energy price increases, higher interest rates, reduced investment budgets, and "sparser start-up funding".

Stripe experienced higher growth rates during the pandemic due to the shift towards e-commerce, which pushed the business towards a new business operating model, where it saw revenue and payment volume more than triple.

But the business warned that it needs to approach things differently during "leaner times".

“Over the last 12 years, current and former Stripes have helped build foundational economic infrastructure for millions of businesses around the world, and this transaction gives them the opportunity to access the value they’ve helped create," said John Collison, co-founder and president of Stripe, commenting on the fund raise.

He added that with the internet economy still young, opporunities over the coming 12 years will "dwarf" those of the recent past.

Primary investors in the recent funding round include existing Stripe shareholders Andreessen Horowitz; Baillie Gifford; Founders Fund; General Catalyst; MSD Partners; and Thrive Capital.

New investors included GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and Temasek.

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