Human resources software startup Rippling said Friday that its valuation has swelled to $16.8 billion in its latest fundraising round.

The company raised $450 million in the round, and has committed to buying an additional $200 million worth of shares from current and previous employees. The company’s valuation is up from $13.5 billion in a round a year ago.

Rippling said there was no lead investor. Baillie Gifford, Elad Gil, Goldman Sachs Growth and others participated in the round, according to a statement from the San Francisco-based company.

With the tech IPO market mostly dormant over the past three-plus years, and President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on imports leading several companies to delay planned offerings, the most high-profile late-stage tech startups continue to tap private markets for growth capital. Rippling co-founder and CEO Parker Conrad told CNBC in an interview the the company isn’t planning for an IPO in the near future.

Conrad also highlighted a change that’s taken place in public markets in recent years, since inflation began soaring in late 2021, followed by higher interest rates. With concerns about the economy swirling, many tech companies downsized and took other steps toward generating and preserving cash.

“It does look a lot like, in order to be successful in the public markets, your growth rates have to come down so that you can be profitable,” said Conrad, who avoided enacting layoffs. “And so for us, that sort of pushes things out until the company looks profitable and probably slower growing, right?”

At Rippling, annual revenue growth is well over 30%, Conrad said, though he didn’t provide an updated sales figure. The information reported last year that Rippling doubled annual recurring revenue to over $350 million by the end of 2023 from a year prior.

Given the pace of expansion, Conrad said he isn’t fixated on profits at the moment at Rippling, which ranked 14th on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list.

Rippling offers payroll services, device management and corporate credit cards, among other products. Competitors include ADP, Paychex, Paycom Software and Paylocity.

There’s also privately held Deel, which Rippling sued in March for allegedly deploying a spy who collected confidential information. Conrad suggested that the publicity surrounding the case may be boosting business.

“I think it’s too early to say, looking at the data, how all of this is going to evolve from a market perspective, but certainly we see some companies that have said, ‘Hey, we’re talking to Rippling because of this,'” Conrad said.

WATCH: The IPO market is likely to pick up near Labor Day, says FirstMark’s Rick Heitzmann

Epic Games said on Friday that it submitted Fortnite to Apple’s App Store, the month after a judge ruled in favor of the game maker in a contempt ruling.

Fortnite was booted from iPhones and Apple’s App Store in 2020, after Epic Games updated its software to link out to the company’s website and avoid Apple’s commissions. The move drew Apple’s anger, and kicked off a legal battle that has lasted for years.

Last month’s ruling, a victory for Epic Games, said that Apple was not allowed to charge a commission on link-outs or dictate if the links look like buttons, paving the way for Fortnite’s return.

Apple could still reject Fortnite’s submission. An Apple representative didn’t respond to a request for comment. Apple is appealing last month’s contempt ruling.

The announcement by Epic Games is the latest salvo in the battle between it and Apple, which has taken place in courts and with regulators around the world since 2020. Epic Games also sued Google, which operates the Play Store for Android phones.

Last month’s ruling has already shifted the economics of app development for iPhones.

Apple takes between 15% and 30% of purchases made using its in-app payment system. Linking to the web avoids those fees. Apple briefly allowed link-outs under its system but would charge a 27% commission, before last month’s ruling.

Developers including Amazon and Spotify have already updated their apps to avoid Apple’s commissions and direct customers to their own websites for payment.

Before last month, Amazon’s Kindle app told users they could not purchase a book in the iPhone app. After a recent update, the app now shows an orange “Get Book” button that links to Amazon’s website.

Fortnite has been available for iPhones in Europe since last year, through Epic Games’ store. Third-party app stores are allowed in Europe under the Digital Markets Act. Users have also been able to play Fortnite on iPhones and iPad through cloud gaming services.

Cryptocurrencies extended their rally to end the week, with bitcoin holding steady above the $100,000 level while ether rallied to its best week since 2021.

The price of bitcoin was higher by 2% at $103,249.99 on Friday, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $104,324.65, its highest level since Jan. 31. For the week, bitcoin is up more than 6% and on pace for its fourth positive week in a row – and first four-week win streak since November.

“This move above $100,000 should be viewed as more than mere euphoria, but rather as evidence of a flows-driven shift,” said Gadi Chait, head of investment at bitcoin-native Xapo Bank. “Whales have been accumulating on-chain, ETF demand continues to set new records, and investors seek ‘neutral’ assets amid a tariff-shadowed macro environment. Meanwhile, the announcement of a U.S.–U.K. ‘mini-deal’ and hints of tariff relief with China have reduced overall risk aversion, lifting equities, oil, and, notably, Bitcoin.”

The risk-on sentiment bled into altcoins, or cryptocurrencies that aren’t bitcoin, most of which have struggled to keep pace with bitcoin’s gains this year. Ether, one of the biggest stragglers, jumped 10%, bringing its two-day gain up to 29%. A 6% increase in the token tied to Solana brought its two-day gain to 16%.

This week the Ethereum network also completed its latest technology upgrade, dubbed Pectra, which enables lower network fees, streamlined ether staking and support for smart wallets.

Ether is up 25% week to date and on pace for its best week since May 2021. The Solana token has added 14.3% this week, which is on track to be its best week since January.

Year to date, however, ether and other major altcoins – with the exception of XRP – are still deep in the red compared to bitcoin. While the flagship crypto is up 10%, ether and the Solana token are down 31% and 12%, respectively.

Bitcoin’s market structure changed after the introduction of spot bitcoin ETFs in 2024, with demand now coming from retirement accounts, macro funds, and corporate bonds such as Strategy. By contrast, altcoins still rely on crypto-native, risk-on capital, which hasn’t shown significant growth alongside the greater tech sector due to the current interest rate environment, according to Eric Chen, Co-Founder of Injective.

Bitcoin is likely to keep outperforming until broader capital flows into altcoins, he added, given their steady supply and lack of a structural buyer base, which are likely to take prices lower until they attract speculative interest.

“For us, there remains one singular strategy for crypto investors: stick to BTC until risk on headwinds dissipate,” Wolfe Research analyst Read Harvey said in a note this week. “The coin is one of just two in our basket positive on the year and it continues to dominate the rest of the space on a relative basis. The question now shifts towards if it can maintain recent outperformance vs. equities, or if Gold was right all along.”

—CNBC’s Nick Wells contributed reporting