Payments company Stripe has hired the team behind the Valora crypto wallet to work on its blockchain initiatives, while ownership and future development of the Valora app shift back to Celo’s development arm, cLabs.
Valora CEO Jackie Bona said the group will join Stripe to contribute their web3 and mobile-first product expertise to Stripe’s crypto efforts. The move came a day after Stripe launched the open testnet for Tempo, its stablecoin-focused blockchain project built with crypto VC Paradigm.
Valora originally spun out of cLabs in mid‑2021 and raised $20 million in a Series A round. The mobile wallet supports stablecoins and other tokens across Celo, Ethereum, Base, Optimism and Arbitrum, and the team also created an open protocol launchpad aimed at mobile-native Web3 applications.
Bona noted that Stripe and Valora share a belief that stablecoins and crypto can broaden who can participate in the global economy, and that joining a platform with Stripe’s reach can accelerate that goal. She emphasized the team’s experience in global payments, digital wallets and simple smartphone Web3 experiences.
The Valora app will remain operational during the transition, but cLabs will assume responsibility for day-to-day operations and future development.
Stripe’s renewed push into crypto has accelerated over the past year, especially since unveiling Tempo about four months ago. The project was reported to have a roughly $5 billion valuation before launch. Tempo’s open testnet demonstrated features such as creating stablecoins directly in the browser, designed to simplify stablecoin issuance and onramp processes for developers and businesses.
