Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Raises Precisely $420.69M
In a quirky nod to meme-fueled crypto culture, the company raised $420,690,000.
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key takeaways
- The valuation increased 38.8% to $25 billion from $18 billion in July, when the company raised $900 million
- In the past three months alone, FTX’s user base has increased 48% and average trading volume is up 75% to about $14 billion per day in daily volume, the company said
Sam Bankman-Fried’s global cryptocurrency exchange FTX has raised $420,690,000 in a Series B-1 fundraise, the company said in an announcement Thursday.
It’s probably no coincidence that the company raised that specific amount with the numbers 420, which references the date April 20th — a holiday celebrating marijuana — and 69, which represents…well, you know.
The valuation increased 38.8% to $25 billion from $18 billion in July, when the company raised $900 million in its Series B. With that said, FTX disclosed that Temasek participated in the previous Series B, updating the total amount raised from $900 million to $1 billion.
In the past three months alone, FTX’s user base has increased 48% and average trading volume is up 75% to about $14 billion per day in daily volume, the company said.
69 Investors
There were, yes, 69 investors who participated in this round, including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, which has $9.49 trillion assets under management.
Other investors include Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, via its Teachers’ Innovation Platform, Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Sea Capital, IVP, ICONIQ Growth, Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
“The additional capital and group of investors will let us provide the experience our users deserve and address other adjacent market opportunities including equities, prediction markets, NFTs and videogame partnerships,” said Ramnik Arora, head of product at FTX, said in a statement.
“We expect to make strategic investments designed to grow the business and expand our regulatory coverage,” Arora added.
The funding will be used to expand FTX to new jurisdictions, improve current offerings and continue to establish itself.
In general, FTX is ramping up its presence, both in the crypto world and in sports, sponsoring activities as diverse as basketball and chess, as part of an effort to reach a mainstream audience and expand its reach.
Recently, FTX named Stephen Curry, a three-time NBA champion, a global ambassador, Blockworks previously reported.
In March, the company finalized a 19-year, $135 million deal with Miami-Dade County in Florida to take over naming rights of the county’s basketball stadium for the Miami Heat, formerly known as American Airlines Arena. In June, the exchange expanded its sponsorship of US professional sports when it signed a sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball. Also in June, National Football League star and rising crypto influencer Tom Brady became an “ambassador” for FTX in exchange for an equity position in the company.
