Y Combinator alum Skio sells for $105M cash, only raised $8M, founder says
Skio, a Y Combinator-backed startup founded by Kennan Frost, has been acquired by subscription payments competitor Recharge for $105 million in cash, despite having raised only $8 million in funding. Frost, who stepped away from the company about two years ago, shared the acquisition details on social media, highlighting the company's growth to $32 million in annual recurring revenue. The acquisition underscores a significant return for investors and marks a milestone in the fintech subscription sector.
- ▪Skio was founded by Kennan Frost, a self-described college dropout and former engineer at Pinterest, after he left his job following a panic attack.
- ▪The company was acquired by Recharge for $105 million in cash, having raised only $8 million in venture funding.
- ▪At the time of acquisition, Skio had achieved $32 million in annual recurring revenue and processed $4 billion in payments.
- ▪Frost participated in Y Combinator's S20 batch, pivoted multiple times, and eventually landed on the subscription payments model that led to success.
- ▪Current Skio CEO Aidan Thibodeaux and CTO Andrew Chen took over leadership and grew the company without a marketing or sales team.
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Skio, a 2020 Y Combinator alum that was founded by self-described college dropout Kennan Frost, has been acquired by competitor Recharge, the companies announced on Thursday. Both Skio and Recharge make products that handle subscription payments for brands. While the official press release did not disclose the terms of the deal, Frost (who had previously left the company), posted on X, LinkedIn, and Instagram that his startup walked with $105 million cash and had only raised $8 million from investors. That’s a healthy return by any measure. His posts about the deal were reposted by Skio investors Y Combinator and Nicolas Wittenborn, founder of VC firm Adjacent.
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