Global eCommerce payments startup Stripe raised more than $6.5 billion in Series I funding at a sharply reduced valuation of $50 billion, down nearly 50% from its $95 valuation in 2021, amid a difficult funding environment for promising startups.

The San Francisco-based company said it would use the fresh capital to cover a large tax bill, approximately $3.5 billion, associated with stock granted to employees and to provide liquidity to current and former employees. “Stripe does not need this capital to run its business,” the firm clarified.

It onboarded new investors like Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Temasek and Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management. Existing venture capital giants Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund and General Catalyst also joined the round.

The capital raise constitutes what is known as a down round, where the latest funding attracts a lower valuation for the company than its previous fundraise. The payments giant was expected to raise a lower amount of funding, around $2 billion, although at a $60 billion valuation.

Founded in 2010 Stripe saw its fortune rise when the COVID pandemic kicked off an online shopping boom. It said earlier this year it expects to process $1 trillion in payment volume for 2023.