After a long dry spell, venture capitalists finally have a big exit to brag about following Stripe’s acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge this week for a reported $1.1 billion.
The sale is a boon for Austin venture firm Bedrock, which co-led Bridge’s seed round via Bedrock Capital III, a $350 million vintage-2021 fund. The acquisition will return a multiple on invested capital of around 20x for the fund, according to a source familiar with the deal.
LPs in Bedrock Capital III include The Community Foundation of Frederick County, according to fundraising data from affiliate title Buyouts.
Bedrock’s Fund III is also an investor in ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which this month raised $6.6 billion from investors including Microsoft and Nvidia in a round that “could value the company at $157 billion and cement its position as one of the most valuable private companies in the world,” according a to Reuters report.
Fund III “should end up being a great fund despite the tricky vintage year,” the source said.
Bedrock was launched in 2018 by Geoff Lewis, formerly a partner at Founders Fund. It began with $127 million in assets under management and now manages about $2 billion, according to its website.
The firm announced in February 2023 that it had closed on more than $350 million for its fourth flagship fund, B4. Investors in Fund IV include public pension funds Autorité des Marchés Financiers and Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund, according to Buyouts.
Lewis declined to comment.
Sequoia and other winners
Bedrock isn’t the only firm to benefit from the sale of Bridge. The company raised a total of $58 million from Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, Index and Haun Ventures, among others, according to a Bloomberg report.
Sequoia led a $40 million Series A for Bridge in March. “It was our privilege to lead Bridge’s Series A, and partnering with them has truly been a dream; they are an exceptional team and are the leaders in a rapidly growing market,” Sequoia partners Shaun Maguire and Josephine Chen wrote in a blog post this week.
“Their acquisition is a milestone we didn’t plan to reach so soon. But we believe there is incredible synergy between Bridge and Stripe, and that by joining forces they can open up new possibilities for people all over the world—including in emerging markets, where moving money on traditional payment rails is inefficient and expensive.”
Bridge, which is based in San Antonio, was founded in April 2022 by Sean Yu and Zach Abrams, who previously co-founded mobile payments company Evenly, which was acquired by Square in 2013.
Bridge operates a payments platform for stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to an asset such as gold or the US dollar, making them less volatile than other forms of crypto. The Bridge acquisition expands the types of payments Stripe can process.
“Thanks to stablecoins, businesses around the world will benefit from significant speed, coverage, and cost improvements in the coming years,” Stripe CEO Patrick Collison wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “ Stripe is going to build the world’s best stablecoin infrastructure, and, to that end, we are delighted to welcome [Bridge] to Stripe.”
In its analysis of the Bridge acquisition, M&A advisory firm Architect Partners estimated that Stripe is buying Bridge at “5.5x their Series A valuation of $200 million completed in March 2024 and likely well over 100x run rate revenue.”
After a long dry spell, venture capitalists finally have a big exit to brag about following Stripe’s acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge this week for a reported $1.1 billion.
The sale is a boon for Austin venture firm Bedrock, which co-led Bridge’s seed round via Bedrock Capital III, a $350 million vintage-2021 fund. The acquisition will return a multiple on invested capital of around 20x for the fund, according to a source familiar with the deal.
LPs in Bedrock Capital III include The Community Foundation of Frederick County, according to fundraising data from affiliate title Buyouts.
Bedrock’s Fund III is also an investor in ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which this month raised $6.6 billion from investors including Microsoft and Nvidia in a round that “could value the company at $157 billion and cement its position as one of the most valuable private companies in the world,” according a to Reuters report.
Fund III “should end up being a great fund despite the tricky vintage year,” the source said.
Bedrock was launched in 2018 by Geoff Lewis, formerly a partner at Founders Fund. It began with $127 million in assets under management and now manages about $2 billion, according to its website.
The firm announced in February 2023 that it had closed on more than $350 million for its fourth flagship fund, B4. Investors in Fund IV include public pension funds Autorité des Marchés Financiers and Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund, according to Buyouts.
Lewis declined to comment.
Sequoia and other winners
Bedrock isn’t the only firm to benefit from the sale of Bridge. The company raised a total of $58 million from Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, Index and Haun Ventures, among others, according to a Bloomberg report.
Sequoia led a $40 million Series A for Bridge in March. “It was our privilege to lead Bridge’s Series A, and partnering with them has truly been a dream; they are an exceptional team and are the leaders in a rapidly growing market,” Sequoia partners Shaun Maguire and Josephine Chen wrote in a blog post this week.
“Their acquisition is a milestone we didn’t plan to reach so soon. But we believe there is incredible synergy between Bridge and Stripe, and that by joining forces they can open up new possibilities for people all over the world—including in emerging markets, where moving money on traditional payment rails is inefficient and expensive.”
Bridge, which is based in San Antonio, was founded in April 2022 by Sean Yu and Zach Abrams, who previously co-founded mobile payments company Evenly, which was acquired by Square in 2013.
Bridge operates a payments platform for stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to an asset such as gold or the US dollar, making them less volatile than other forms of crypto. The Bridge acquisition expands the types of payments Stripe can process.
“Thanks to stablecoins, businesses around the world will benefit from significant speed, coverage, and cost improvements in the coming years,” Stripe CEO Patrick Collison wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “ Stripe is going to build the world’s best stablecoin infrastructure, and, to that end, we are delighted to welcome [Bridge] to Stripe.”
In its analysis of the Bridge acquisition, M&A advisory firm Architect Partners estimated that Stripe is buying Bridge at “5.5x their Series A valuation of $200 million completed in March 2024 and likely well over 100x run rate revenue.”
