Sequoia Capital is offering its investors a way to cash out of Stripe, the payments giant it first backed nearly 14 years ago, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Limited partners in venture capital funds are increasingly desperate for liquidity, as companies like Stripe eschew IPOs.

Behind the scenes: Sequoia this morning emailed LPs in funds raised between 2009 and 2012, offering to buy up to $861 million of Stripe shares.

• The purchasers would be other, more recent Sequoia Capital funds — a process partially enabled by the firm's 2021 restructuring.

In the weeds: The price would be $27.51 per share, which is Stripe's most recent 409A mark and represents a $70 billion valuation. For context, Stripe was valued at $95 billion back in 2021, but by last summer had slashed its worth to $50 billion.

• Selling LPs would not pay carried interest. Sequoia partners would not profit on the sales, unless they had personal investments in the relevant Sequoia funds and chose to liquidate their stakes.
• The $861 million represents only around 10% of Sequoia's total FMV of Stripe shares.

The big picture: Sequoia is recognizing what some of its investors need, while simultaneously expressing faith in Stripe's future.

• What's not clear, however, is why Sequoia is convinced that Stripe will enable an exit that rewards such faith.
• Internal messaging has been to expect an IPO eventually, but its actions have suggested that the founding Collison brothers would rather stay private indefinitely.

By the numbers: Stripe says it handled more than $1 trillion in payments in 2023, up 25% from the prior year.

• Sequoia, meanwhile, distributed around $10 billion last year to its investors.

The bottom line: This could become a template for how Sequoia handles other long-in-the-tooth portfolio companies, and a cause for celebration among limited partners.

Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG) is in advanced talks to buy cloud security company Wiz for around $23 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Why it's the BFD: This would be Alphabet's largest-ever acquisition, and its first major cybersecurity purchase since buying Mandiant for $5.4 billion in 2022.

Caveats: Alphabet recently was reported to be near a deal for Hubspot, which would have been worth even more, but never made a formal offer. It's also under significant antitrust scrutiny, which could cause cold feet.

ROI: Wiz has raised $1.8 billion in VC funding, including a $1 billion Series E round earlier this year at a $12 billion valuation.

• Investors include a16z, Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Greylock, Index Partners, Insight Partners, Lightspeed, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, and Wellington Management.

The bottom line: "Google isn't nearly as strong in the cloud-computing market as it is in search and online advertising ... but it is investing heavily in the business, which is growing quickly. Last year, revenue in Google's cloud business grew 26% and the unit reported an operating profit for the first time." — Lauren Thomas & Berber Jin, WSJ

• Halo Industries, a Santa Clara, Calif., laser manufacturing tech platform for semiconductors, raised $80m in Series B funding. USIT led, and was joined by 8VC and SAIC. axios.link/3W73EKm

• Standard Bots, a Glen Cove, N.Y., robotic automation startup, raised $63m in Series B funding. General Catalyst led, and was joined by Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund and Samsung Next. axios.link/4bEQRVy

• Partior, a blockchain payment network, raised $60m in Series B funding. Peak XV Partners led, and was joined by Valor Capital Group, Jump Trading Group, JPMorgan, Standard Chartered, and Temasek. axios.link/4cVQ6rX

🌎 44.01, a London developer of carbon mineralization tech, raised $37m in Series A funding. Equinor Ventures led, and was joined by Shorooq Partners, Air Liquide VC, Alumni Ventures, Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, Climate Investment, Innovation Development Oman, Planet A Ventures, Salica Oryx Fund, Siemens Financial Services, Sumitomo and insider Breakthrough Energy Ventures. axios.link/462Ba9e

• Tapi, an Argentinian payment processor, raised $22m in Series A funding. Kaszek led, and was joined by a16z. axios.link/3Y1Hpbx

• Alvys, a Solana Beach, Calif., logistics operating platform, raised $20.5m in Series A funding. Titanium Ventures led, and was joined by Picus Capital and insiders RTP and Bonfire. alvys.com

• Adaptive, a provider of workflow automation for construction financial management, raised $19m in Series A funding. Emergence Capital led, and was joined by a16z, Definition, Exponent, 3kvc, Box Group, and Gokul Rajaram. axios.link/3W7yEtZ

• LegalFly, a Belgian legal AI startup founded by ex-Tinder product managers, raised over €15m. Notion Capital led, and was joined by Redalpine and Fortino Capital. axios.link/4cwgcCd

• Caliza, a Latin America-focused provider of real-time money transfers, raised $8.5m led by Initialized. axios.link/469hL6D

• Haruko, a London-based digital asset investment management platform, raised $6m co-led by White Star Capital and MMC Ventures. haruko.io

• Instinct Digital, a British asset management reporting SaaS, raised £5m in Series A funding led by AlbionVC. axios.link/3zI6IW0

• Grand Games, a Turkish mobile gaming startup, raised $3m in pre-seed funding. Earlybird Digital East Fund led, and was joined by Laton Ventures. axios.link/4cDmjod

• Endor Labs, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based software supply chain security company, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Citi Ventures. Last year it raised a $70m Series A round. endorlabs.com

• Blackstone invested in Air Control Concepts, a Norfolk, N.Y., provider of services to commercial HVAC OEMs, alongside existing investor Madison Dearborn Partners. aircontrolconcepts.com

• CJ Pony Parts, a Harrisburg, Pa., portfolio company of Century Park Capital Partners, acquired American Powertrain, a Cookeville, Tenn., maker of transmission kits for classic vehicles. cjponyparts.com

• Transportation Equipment Network, a U.S. trailer lessor owned by I Squared Capital, raised more than $600m from firms like Mubadala and Qatar Investment Authority. axios.link/3LpUmVe

• Two major IPOs are expected this week on U.S. exchnges: Hospital operator Ardent Health and insurance distributor TWFG. axios.link/3zyuy6n

🚑 Artiva Biotherapeutics, a San Diego-based developer of allogeneic natural killer cell therapies, set IPO terms to 8.7m shares at $14-$16. It would have a $264m market cap, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq ARTV). The pre-revenue company has raised nearly $200m from GC LabCell (27.4% pre-IPO stake), 5AM Ventures (15%), venBio Partners (15%), RA Capital (15%), Venrock, and Medivate Partners. axios.link/3S6CCSo

🚑 Concentra Group, a Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based occupational health services provider being spun out of Select Medical (NYSE: SEM), set IPO terms to 22.5m shares at $23-$26. It would have a $3.1b market value, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the NYSE under an unfortunate ticket symbol (CON). axios.link/3WjUThs

• OneStream, a Birmingham, Mich., provider of corporate performance management software, set IPO terms to 24.5m shares at $17-$19. The KKR-backed company would have a $4.4b fully diluted market value, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (OS). axios.link/4f6jWMj

🐖 WH Group (HK: 288) plans to spin off the U.S. and Mexico businesses of pork producer Smithfield Foods via a New York listing. axios.link/3S9s58V

⚡ Huture, a Chinese hydrogen energy firm focused on EVs, agreed to go public at an implied $1b valuation via Aquaron Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: AQU), a SPAC that previously terminated a deal to buy Chinese hydrogen fuel cell developer Bestpath. axios.link/3LmUnsP

• Cinven hired Goldman Sachs and Fenchurch Advisory to sell German life insurer Viridium Group, which could fetch more than €3b, per Bloomberg. Suitors may include Athora (Apollo), Resolution Life (Blackstone), and Sixth Street. axios.link/4cGytwz

• Vista Equity hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale of Sonatype, a Fulton, Md., supply chain cybersecurity firm that could fetch more than $1.5b (including debt), per Reuters. axios.link/3WktuMw

⚡ The FTC has requested more information on ConocoPhillips' (NYSE: COP) proposed $22.5b all-stock acquisition of Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO), per the WSJ. axios.link/3Wm28Wg

🚀 Airbus (Paris: AIR) and Thales (Paris: HO) are weighing a merger of some space activities, as first reported by La Tribune. axios.link/4cGZcsZ

• Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE: CLE) agreed to buy Canadian steelmaker Stelco Holdings (TSX: STLC) for around US$2.5b. axios.link/4cHAbOg

• Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX), a Silicon Valley-based data center operator, hired Citigroup to sell a minority stake in its Hong Kong facilities, which could fetch around $2b, per Reuters. axios.link/3Y2Je8f

• Macy's (NYSE: M) said that it's ended talks to be taken private by Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management. axios.link/4eWEqY1

⚽ Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and the Reuben brothers acquired shares they didn't already hold in Newcastle United FC from Amanda Staveley's PCP Capital Partners. axios.link/3Lt5Tmk

• Sevoria Holdings, a unit of Temasek, said it plans to buy a minority stake in Hong Kong-based private credit fund manager ADM Capital. axios.link/4fgLijd

• Yandex (Nasdaq: TNDX) completed the sale of its flagship Russian assets to a group of Russian investors for $5.4b. axios.link/3YlMKe7

• Amboy Sgtreet Ventures, an LA firm led by Carli Sapir (ex-Female Founded Club), is raising up to $50m for its second fund, per an SEC filing.

• Caro Investors Management, a new real estate private credit firm led by Careina Williams (ex-Sundance Bay), launched with anchor funding from TPG Next. caroinvestors.com

• Graham Partners, a Newtown Square, Pa., private equity firm, raised over $1.8b for its sixth fund, per SEC filings.

• Matchstick Ventures of Minneapolis is raising its fourth fund, per an SEC filing. Its third fund raised $55m.

• Mundi Ventures of Spain secured €25m from AECID to invest in Latin America-focused insuretech startups. axios.link/4cFmmQC

• Goldman Sachs named Sudarshan Ramakrishnan and Devarajan Nambakam as co-heads of India investment banking. axios.link/4bIeHj1

• Jennifer Rogg joined Dunes Point Capital as head of IR. She previously spent over a decade with Odyssey Investment Partners. axios.link/4d4tDt3

Trump Technology & Media Group, the Truth Social parent company, saw shares spike nearly 50% at Monday's open.

• The upward move follows Saturday's assassination attempt on former President Trump, and seems to reflect increased investor belief that he will win November's election.
• Shares fell a bit after the open, but jumped back up after Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Trump.

Catch up quick: TMTG went public earlier this year via SPAC, and has been a meme stock — with its market value untethered to its underlying financials.

• Trump himself is allowed to begin selling shares next month, when a lockup agreement expires.