As the collapse of FTX rocks the crypto community, the Sequoia and Temasek-backed Amber Group, a crypto trading company, has concluded a massive $300 million Series C fundraising round.
The revelation, which the Singapore-based company shared on Twitter, comes shortly after a Bloomberg report that said the cryptocurrency dealer had canceled a sponsorship agreement with Chelsea FC and was laying off 40% of its workforce due to market unrest.
Amber, like other cryptocurrency trading companies, was affected by the collapse of FTX. The company stated that at the time of the collapse, less than 10% of its total trading capital was with FTX, "although we did have to rebalance some holdings." it added.
This rebalancing tactic has been revealed as Fenbushi Capital US, the lead investor in Amber's most recent round invests heavily in the cryptocurrency market maker to maintain its operations. Additionally, Amber's $100 million Series B investment in June 2021 was supported by Fenbushi Capital.
As a result of the FTX default, some of our unique products would have seen substantial drawdowns, Amber wrote in a tweet. "Our main clients and products remain intact, but a few of our specialized products would have suffered significant losses," she said.
"As a result, we promptly adjusted our fundraising plan. With the understanding that we will be laser-focused on offering best-in-class services to our client base of institutional and high-net-worth individuals, the Series C investors signed on.
Other cryptocurrency-native investors and family offices also participated in the Series C fundraising. When Amber raised $200 million in a Series B expansion round in February, it was last valued at $3 billion. According to a Friday Bloomberg story, the company's valuation has dropped below $3 billion.
Amber, which primarily serves Asia with liquidity and market-making services, had managed more than $5 billion in assets as of February and had transacted a total of $1 trillion in digital assets.
As it will be "cutting down our mass consumer activities and non-essential business lines, in an effort to focus on our core companies and clients," Amber intimated in a tweet that the layoff would actually be significant.
