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Stripe has secured a $6.5 billion Series I at a $65 billion valuation, led by Sequoia and General Catalyst. CFO Dhivya Suryadevara confirmed the round will fund expansion into Southeast Asia and a potential 2027 public offering. The fintech titan processed $1.4 trillion in payments volume in the last fiscal year.

Mercury Bank has rolled out venture debt lines up to $5 million for seed-stage companies with at least six months of runway. The product targets founders who want to extend their runway without dilution. Lines are secured against ARR and require a Mercury checking account. Pricing starts at Prime plus 2.5%, with no warrants.

When the pandemic erased 80% of Airbnb's revenue overnight, Brian Chesky slept on the platform he built. He personally called 1,000 hosts and cut $800 million in costs within eight weeks. The decision to stay private longer and invest in experience quality—not growth—produced the most profitable IPO of 2020 and a $75 billion market cap.

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF has accumulated $20 billion in assets under management, becoming the fastest ETF in history to reach that milestone. Daily inflows averaged $240 million in Q3, displacing Grayscale's GBTC as the leading Bitcoin investment vehicle. Institutional adoption now accounts for 68% of ETF holdings.

Stability AI narrowly avoided insolvency after founder Emad Mostaque's abrupt resignation triggered a $75 million Series B withdrawal and a mass departure of key researchers. The board installed Intel's Sean Evans as interim CEO. Three competing image generation models launched by former staff threaten its open-source positioning.

Figma's $20 billion acquisition offer from Adobe validated a product built on one insight: design is collaboration, not creation. Dylan Field launched in a browser when Electron didn't exist, refused enterprise deals that would slow the PLG flywheel, and held multiplayer at the core before Notion or Linear made collaboration a category. Adobe was too slow.