FTX exchange hits a $32B valuation following a new funding round

Bahamas-based crypto exchange FTX has hit a valuation of $32.00 billion (£23.80 billion) after completing its Series C funding round. The company unveiled this news through a press release earlier today, noting that it secured $400.00 million (£297.45 million) in the financing round. Reportedly, this was FTX’s third funding round in six months.

Combined with the two past funding rounds, this investment has seen the amount FTX has raised from venture capitals over the past six months hit $1.80 billion (£1.34 billion). FTX’s valuation also increased by over 75% during this period.

Are you looking for fast-news, hot-tips and market analysis?

Sign-up for the Invezz newsletter, today.

Commenting on the success of the Series C funding round, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, said,

Our Series C financing round represents a milestone achievement for FTX, as we raised close to $2 billion in six months. This round will support our continued mission of delivering innovative products and services to the marketplace as well as expanding our global reach with additional licenses around the world.

FTX continues growing rapidly

Bankman-Fried added that with the ongoing support from devoted investors and user base, FTX seeks to continue engaging regulators to enable easy access to digital assets in a safe and compliant way. He further noted that FTX plans to continue working alongside its investors to achieve its mission and continue its rapid growth in 2022 and beyond.

According to FTX, this round featured companies like Temasek, Paradigm, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, NEA, IVP, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global, and Insight Partners, among others.

Notably, these companies also took part in the Series A funding round of FTX.US, FTX’s sister company, in the past week. The companies injected $400.00 million (£297.45 million) into the firm, bringing its valuation to $8.00 billion (£5.95 billion).

With FTX and its sister company performing incredibly well, the firm has risen from an unknown entity during its launch in 2019 to become a key player in the crypto space, rivaling leading exchanges like Coinbase and Binance.

Bankman-Fried says crypto won’t enter a long-term winter market

With FTX and FTX.US raising $800.00 million in January, it is evident that the crypto sector is increasingly becoming popular, especially among institutional investors, despite the recent crash.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC/USD), the leading crypto by capitalization, is changing hands at $38,637.49 (£28,723.30) after gaining 2.67% over the past 24 hours. While the coin has recovered from trading below $34,000.00 (£25,275.77), it is worth noting that it is 43.94% down from its ATH.

Despite the recent meltdown, Bankman-Fried said he does not think the crash would lead to a long-term crypto winter.

He added that,

 There have been changes in expectations of interest rates, and that’s been moving crypto markets. But it’s been moving markets more generally as well.