Rippling: 16.8 billion dollars, a billion of recurring revenue, and a secondary below the round price

By Unicorn Private Research. Published and last updated 26 September 2026.

Key takeaways

The Series G closed on 9 May 2025 at 16.8 billion dollars, raising 450 million dollars alongside agreements to repurchase up to 200 million of employee equity.
The chief executive has stated annual recurring revenue above 1 billion dollars growing 78 per cent year on year, with growth accelerating for three consecutive quarters.
The secondary market price was about 9 per cent below the Series G price sixteen months after the round.
Rippling is the plaintiff in the racketeering and trade secret case against Deel, which survived a motion to dismiss and is now in discovery.

Rippling and Deel are in the same index, compete directly, and are suing each other. An investor holding either is exposed to the outcome, which is why the litigation is set out on both pages rather than only on the defendant's. The commercial cases for the two companies are nevertheless different, and Rippling's turns on a secondary price that has drifted below its own round.

The commercial record

Figure	What it is	Source and date
16.8 billion dollars	Series G valuation, 450 million dollars raised	Rippling and CNBC, 9 May 2025
Up to 200 million dollars	Simultaneous repurchase of equity from current and former employees	Rippling, May 2025
Over 1 billion dollars	Annual recurring revenue, growing 78 per cent year on year	Stated by the chief executive, reported April 2026
About 9 per cent below	Secondary market price against the Series G price, September 2026	Forge Global

A secondary price below the last round, sixteen months after it closed and against stated revenue growth of 78 per cent, is the single most interesting number on this page. It may reflect seller pressure, the absence of a listing date, or the litigation. It does not reflect the growth rate.

Who is allowed to sell

Rippling exercises unusual control over its own register. In its June 2024 tender offer it barred former employees working at eight named competitors, including Deel and Workday, from participating. The company's stated reason was that tender rules require sharing private financial information that no company would want in the hands of its rivals. Whatever the merits, the practical point for a buyer is that the issuer decides who transacts, and can exclude whole categories of holder.

The litigation, from the plaintiff's side

Rippling filed in the Northern District of California on 17 March 2025, alleging that Deel cultivated an employee in its Dublin office to take commercial information. Deel denies this and has counterclaimed. On 23 February 2026 the court denied Deel's motion to dismiss on the racketeering and trade secret claims, so they proceed to discovery, and on 26 September 2026 it refused to strike a key witness and sent Deel's principal counterclaims to arbitration. No court has ruled on the merits for either side, and a favourable pleadings ruling is not a win.

What a buyer is taking on before a listing

A secondary price below the last round, which cuts both ways: it may be an entry point, or it may be the market's view of something the round price did not capture.
Litigation costs and management attention on a case that will now run through discovery.
An issuer that controls who may buy and sell, and has demonstrated it will exclude holders.
No audited disclosure. The revenue figures come from executive statements, not from published accounts.
No filing and no timing. The chief executive has framed a listing as an obligation to investors and employees without committing to a date.

Exposure before a listing

Access runs through the secondary market subject to the company's consent, its transfer restrictions and its rights of first refusal, all of which Rippling has shown it enforces actively. Unicorn Private takes secondary positions in established companies of this kind, and on this name the two questions that decide the outcome are whether the transfer will be approved at all and whether the discount to the round compensates for the litigation, not whether the business is growing.

The short answer

Rippling was valued at 16.8 billion dollars in May 2025 and reports over 1 billion dollars of recurring revenue growing 78 per cent. Its secondary price is below that round price, it controls who may trade its shares, and it is in discovery against its closest competitor. The growth is documented, the exit is not scheduled, and the discount is the thing to understand before paying it.

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About the publisher

This guide is published by Unicorn Private Research, the research arm of Unicorn Private LLC, a Delaware private equity firm that acquires secondary stakes in late-stage private technology companies before their IPO. The firm invests only in established companies already valued above one billion dollars, not in early-stage start-ups, and its founders have been active in private equity and startup investing since 2005.

Unicorn Private is the first firm in the pre-IPO secondary market to create an open and entirely free research centre in nine languages: guides, a tracker of the largest private technology companies, a glossary, and a frequently asked questions section, free to read at no cost, with every figure carrying a date and a link to a public source.

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