(Bloomberg) – Stripe, the payments company founded by billionaire brothers Patrick and John Collison, is in talks to acquire venture-backed fintech platform Bridge.
Stripe is in talks to buy the San Antonio, Texas-based company, according to people familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be identified discussing private information. A final decision has not yet been made and either party could still withdraw from the agreement, the people said.
Representatives for Stripe declined to comment. Bridge CEO Zack Abrams did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment.
Bridge’s platform is designed to allow enterprises to create, store, send, and accept stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT and Circle’s UDSC. The startup has raised a total of $58 million in funding, Fortune reported in August. Investors include Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, Index, and Haun Ventures.
Sequoia led Bridge’s latest round, a $40 million Series A funding. In a blog post published at the time, the venture capital firm praised the stablecoin market opportunity created in part by moves by companies like Stripe.
The partnership would add to Stripe’s recent move into stablecoins, an alternative payment mechanism that is growing in popularity. Stripe announced last week that it would once again allow its U.S. merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments in USDC format, ending a six-year hiatus from processing digital tokens.
Earlier this month, Visa announced a new platform for banks to issue their own fiat-backed tokens, including stablecoins. Other financial technology companies, such as Robinhood Markets Inc. and Revolut Ltd., are also considering launching their own stablecoins.
Read: Robinhood, Revolt explore joining $170 billion stablecoin space
Abrams co-founded Bridge less than two years ago with chief technology officer Sean Yu. The two sold their previous startup, Evenly, to Square. Abrams is a veteran of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and business banking startup Brex. Yu’s experience also includes stints at Airbnb and Coinbase.
Stripe has long been considered a top fintech IPO candidate, but the company’s founders have emphasized that they are in no rush to go public.
Earlier this year, Stripe and several investors agreed to buy back more than $1 billion in stock from employees, valuing the company at $65 billion. It reached its highest valuation of nearly $100 billion in 2021.
Watch: The David Rubenstein Show: John Collison
–With assistance from Anna Herrera and Emily Nicole.
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Less Business News News Stripe begins preliminary talks to acquire stablecoin-focused fintech platform Bridge
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