Crypto exchange FTX recently concluded a funding round in which it raised a little over $420 million. The Series B-1 fundraise bestows a hefty $25 billion valuation on the company. Furthermore, this recent valuation increase represents a 38.8% jump from its former value of $18 billion back in July.
A total of 69 investors participated in the funding round, such as Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Sea Capital, IVP, ICONIQ Growth, and Tiger Global. Additional investors are Ribbit Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Another example is the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, via its Teachers’ Innovation Platform.
FTX head of products Ramnik Arora weighed in on the development. Arora asserted that the additional funds generated and investor assistance from the latest round give FTX a major boost. For instance, the funds will go into expanding into new markets and improvement of current offerings. Arora also further stated that they can now address other market opportunities including, equities, prediction markets, NFTs, and videogame partnerships.
Overall, FTX is increasing its visibility across a disparate range of platforms and entities. These range from the crypto world to sports – securing naming rights to NBA team Miami Heat’s playing arena. According to FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, this is all in a bid to attract a mainstream audience.
