Stripe brings mobile wallet expertise with Valora acquisition
The giant Stripe has acquired the team behind Valora, a mobile-focused cryptocurrency wallet built for stablecoin payments. Jackie Bona, Valora’s CEO and co-founder, announced the move on Wednesday, describing it as advancing the mission to expand global financial access. The acquisition is structured as an « acqui-hire, » meaning Stripe is acquiring the talent rather than the technology itself. Neither company disclosed financial terms or the exact number of employees joining Stripe.
Valora’s intellectual property and mobile app will return to cLabs, the company from which Valora originally spun out in 2021. cLabs will continue operating and developing the Valora application for users on the Celo network, an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain. Valora raised $20 million at launch and focused on making crypto transfers as simple as sending text messages. The wallet previously partnered with M-Pesa to expand into African markets and with Tether to promote stablecoin adoption globally. For beginners, this means Stripe is bringing in experts who built intuitive mobile payment tools for underserved markets.
Acquisition strengthens Stripe infrastructure
The Valora team will contribute expertise in web3 product design and mobile wallet infrastructure to Stripe’s blockchain initiatives. Bona said conversations with Stripe revealed strong alignment on how stablecoins can expand economic participation globally. This acquisition follows Stripe’s recent purchases of Bridge, a regulated stablecoin platform, and Privy, which provides embedded wallet tools for developers. Together, these moves position Stripe with regulated payment rails, embedded wallet capabilities and now mobile-first user experience design. Industry analysts note that this combination gives Stripe advantages few fintech firms possess in pushing stablecoins into everyday commerce.
Stripe reintroduced USDC payments in early 2024 after suspending crypto support years earlier. The company also launched Tempo, its own payments-focused blockchain designed for high-throughput stablecoin settlement. With payment volumes in the trillions and a merchant base across nearly every major market, Stripe has scale to mainstream stablecoins. The Valora acquisition adds consumer-focused mobile payment experience that Bridge and Privy did not provide. For traditional businesses, this signals Stripe’s intent to make accepting stablecoin payments as seamless as accepting credit cards.
