PayPal pares venture unit as new CEO presses restructuring

PayPal is pulling back from its corporate venture operation as CEO Enrique Lores remakes the payments company, Fortune reported, citing five people familiar with the matter. The shift matters because PayPal Ventures has been part of the company’s strategy for a decade, backing fintech and crypto startups while investing directly from PayPal’s balance sheet.

The venture team has fallen from more than 10 employees in late 2025 to two, according to an archived version of the PayPal Ventures website cited by Fortune. The page that previously listed staff for the unit is no longer accessible, Fortune reported.

PayPal is also weighing whether to sell some of its venture holdings on the secondary market, Fortune reported, citing a person familiar with the discussions. That person said PayPal has brought in Jefferies to help with possible deals. Jefferies did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

A PayPal spokesperson told Fortune the company is looking at choices for the venture business as part of a broader effort to sharpen its priorities. “We don’t have additional details to share at this time,” the spokesperson said.

A decade-old investment arm

PayPal created PayPal Ventures in 2016, a year after eBay separated the payments company into an independent business, according to Fortune. The unit has backed more than 80 companies through three funds totaling more than $850 million.

Its investments have included Plaid, the financial data company, and Anchorage Digital, the crypto custody firm, Fortune reported. One of its exits came in 2021, when Bill.com acquired Divvy, another company in the venture portfolio.

The portfolio recently helped PayPal’s earnings. A February earnings release from PayPal said venture portfolio performance added 10 cents to the company’s $1.53 in earnings per share in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared with a 4-cent drag in the prior-year period.

Fortune noted that some large public technology companies, including Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft, continue to operate major venture arms. PayPal’s review points in a different direction as the company cuts costs and reorders its businesses under new leadership.

Restructuring under Lores

The venture pullback follows a leadership change at PayPal earlier this year. Alex Chriss was removed as CEO in February after a nearly three-year run in which PayPal’s stock fell more than 30%, Fortune reported.

PayPal’s board was concerned the company was losing ground to rivals such as Stripe and Apple, both of which offer checkout products, according to Fortune. In the company’s February announcement of the CEO change, PayPal said “the pace of change and execution was not in line with the Board’s expectations.”

Lores, who previously led HP, took over as CEO and moved quickly to reorganize the business, according to Fortune. CNBC reported that PayPal placed Venmo into its own business vertical, while PayPal announced a leadership restructuring through a company release.

PayPal also announced broad cuts in May, Fortune reported. Bloomberg reported that the company is aiming to reduce its workforce by 20% over the next two to three years.

On a May earnings call, Lores said PayPal needed to speed up AI adoption and “recommit to the fundamentals,” according to a transcript cited by Fortune. Another PayPal executive said on that call that the company expects to produce at least $1.5 billion in savings over the next two to three years.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.