Matrixport is seeking to raise $100 million in funding at a $1.5 billion valuation

Crypto financial services firm Matrixport is seeking to raise $100 million in funding at a $1.5 billion valuation, as first reported by Bloomberg. The startup was looking to raise at a $1 billion valuation earlier this year. It most recently raised $100 million at a $1 billion valuation in a Series C fundraising round in August 2021.

According to the report, the startup currently has $50 million in commitments for this round and is still seeking commitments for the other half of the round.

“Matrixport routinely engages with key stakeholders, including investors, as part of its normal course of business,” said Ross Gan, Matrixport’s head of public relations, in a statement to The Block. “We’re excited and look forward to engaging on similar terms with participants in the other half of the funding round. The funding commitments represent the confidence in our ability to capture new opportunities with recent industry developments.”

This fundraising attempt comes at a challenging time for the crypto industry as the market grapples with the ripple effects of the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX — though a Matrixport spokesperson noted the process started “long before” the collapse of FTX.

Founded in 2019 by crypto billionaire Jihan Wu,  Matrixport offers various services, from lending to asset management and trading services. The startup was spun out of Wu’s other business, Bitmain, which is a crypto mining business.

The crypto winter chill

Matrixport has around $10 billion in assets under management, according to its website. It’s taken a hit from the collapse of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and crypto exchange FTX this year. The firm gave a loan to 3AC that was 120% collateralized and liquidated the hedge fund when it failed to meet its margin call in the summer. However, it still experienced some losses, managing to recover around 80% of the loan, founding partner and chief operating officer Cynthia Wu told The Block.

It also had exposure to FTX through its fixed-income offerings. 79 clients incurred losses via three products on the Matrixport platform.

Investors in previous rounds for Matrixport have included DST Capital, Paradigm, Dragonfly and Tiger Global Management.

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