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It seems like the kind of pickle that might only happen in Startupland.
One of the biggest names in venture capital pours $21m into a buzzy payments startup. Then it realizes 1 of the other major companies in its portfolio… is also a buzzy payments startup. Danger, Will Robinson!
What do you do? If you’re Sequoia Capital, you say: Finix, keep the (giant chunk of) change.
… and TechCrunch got the scoop. A brief recap:
TechCrunch said Sequoia had never backed out of an announced deal in its nearly 5-decade history.
It’s hard to know for sure, but people have theories. Business Insider said the competition between Stripe and Finix was heating up. VC Starter Kit laid out a few possibilities:
Also: How much does $21m even matter? The windfall was a big deal to Finix, obviously, but to major investors, does it just feel like a Venmo payment?