This new-to-Miami company just got investments from the founders of Reddit, Salesforce and Dell
What do the founders of Reddit and Salesforce and Michael Dell all have in common?
Each just invested in Pipe, a new-to-Miami company that hopes to change the way recurring payments are bought and sold.
On Tuesday, Pipe announced it had raised $50 million from an all-star investor lineup that includes Reddit’s Alexis Ohanian, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, and Michael Dell’s MSD Capital. Others in the syndicate include Shopify, Slack, HubSpot, Okta, Chamath Palihapitiya, Republic and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. The round is being led by Siemens’ Next47 global venture firm, and Raptor, a Boston-based financial firm with offices South of Fifth on Miami Beach. Individual investment amounts and Pipe’s valuation were not disclosed.
While firms traditionally sell equity or take on debt to fund expansions, Pipe allows them to sell cash flows. For instance, a gym could take its monthly income from members’ subscriptions and put them up for auction on Pipe’s platform.
Pipe co-founder Harry Hurst, a Brit by birth who moved to Miami from Los Angeles, says Pipe is building “the NASDAQ of revenue.” He moved to Miami at the end of 2020 and continues to like what he sees.
“What we’re getting here is strong network effects, similar to the experience in San Francisco even if it’s not as many people,” he said. “The people that are here care so much about building this place up, everyone seems to be going out of their way to push forward. It makes the network effects here really strong.”
“Pipe is leveling the playing field for companies in the capital markets,” said Palihapitiya, founder and CEO of Social Capital, in a statement. “By taking the underlying contracts that generate recurring revenue streams and making them tradable for the first time, Pipe has unlocked a multi-trillion dollar asset class, revenue.”
For now, the local Pipe team remains small, with much of its team continuing to work remotely across different parts of the globe. It maintains office space in Wynwood and just hired a chief of staff for the area.
In an emailed statement to the Miami Herald, Ohanian, a South Florida resident, said Pipe is creating an essential tool for entrepreneurs — and serving as a key player in Miami’s new tech turn.
“I’ve long been a proponent of the South Florida start-up scene since I moved here four years ago and I am confident that leaders like Pipe will only be more of a draw for this expanding community as more organizations continue to grow and relocate here,” said Ohanian, who now leads venture capital fund Seven Seven Six.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 11:27 AM.
