The app will continue to live on by returning to its original home at cLabs, which will steward its future development.
Crypto News
Stripe has acquired the team behind mobile payments startup Valora, marking another strategic move to expand its stablecoin operations. Valora founder Jackie Bona announced Wednesday that the team would join Stripe to pursue the mission of expanding global access to financial systems.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, including how many Valora employees would transition to the payments giant. Launched in 2021, Valora developed a mobile-first, self-custody cryptocurrency wallet app particularly geared for stablecoins on the $CELO blockchain.
The acquisition did not appear to include the intellectual property behind Valora's technology, according to Bona. The app will continue to live on by returning to its original home at cLabs, which will steward its future development. The peer-to-peer app aimed to make sending crypto as easy as sending a text message.
Stripe, one of the world's most valuable private companies, has expanded its footprint in the stablecoin space since acquiring Bridge in a landmark $1.1 billion deal in late October 2024. Its stablecoin unit appears focused on supporting the full stablecoin lifecycle from issuance and management to custody services.
In September, Stripe made two major announcements, including unveiling Open Issuance, a platform to assist companies in launching bespoke stablecoins using Bridge's infrastructure. The firm also announced support in co-developing the payments-focused layer-1 Tempo blockchain and is pursuing a national bank charter in the U.S.
Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison wrote in an annual letter that stablecoins represent an improvement on the basic usability of money after taking years to find product-market fit. The company infamously disabled Bitcoin payments in 2018 after a failed trial period and only began to experiment gradually with stablecoins in recent years.
Bona stated that Stripe shares Valora's conviction that stablecoins and crypto can dramatically expand who gets to participate in the global economy. She noted significant overlap in shared values and passion for impact in conversations with the Stripe team.
Valora was spun out of core Celo development group cLabs over four years ago. The project raised $20 million from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital, to support its independent operation. Several celebrities, including NBA players Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant, YouTuber Casey Neistat, and rappers Nas and Sean Diddy Combs, were also backers via the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund.
Earlier this year, Stripe also acquired crypto wallet firm Privy as part of its broader expansion into digital asset infrastructure and payment services.
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