just now
July 21, 2021 - FTX Trading Ltd., the owner and operator of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.COM, has announced the closing of a $900 million Series B fundraise, which values the company at $18 billion. This new financing round will expand FTX's global presence, accelerate the Company's growth, and represents one of the largest raises for a crypto company.
Over 60 investors participated in the $900M Series B, including Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo, SoftBank, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Third Point, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Altimeter, BOND, NEA, Coinbase Ventures, Willoughby Capital, 40North, Senator Investment Group, Sino Global Capital, Multicoin, the Paul Tudor Jones family, Izzy Englander, Alan Howard, VanEck, Hudson River Trading, and Circle.
With over 1 million users and averaging over $10B of daily trading volume, FTX has grown into one of the world's leading crypto exchanges. Since its launch in May 2019, FTX has experienced dramatic growth. The company's revenues have increased over tenfold this year and 75x since its Series A funding round closed in mid 2020. The platform serves the entire chain of cryptocurrency trading participants from retail and crypto-native investors, to sophisticated day traders, family offices, and experienced institutional traders.
The funds will allow FTX to further expand its product offerings and user base. The Company will leverage the funds to further enhance its offerings and make strategic investments designed to grow the business. The Company will also look to further expand the network of partnerships it has for its FTX Pay, FTX Liquidity program & FTX NFT business lines as it looks to expand its presence and drive further growth. The investment process was led by the Company's own ventures team, with help from Paradigm, Ribbit, and BTIG.
Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO, FTX, commented on today's news, "I'm incredibly humbled by the support we've gotten. It's our first large fundraise, but through it we've formed a hugely valuable set of partners. I'm excited to work with them to make FTX the best company it can be. We started out as a new derivatives exchange two years ago, and this round will help us continue to build out a bigger and broader vision for what FTX could become."
Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner at Paradigm, commented, "Sam Bankman-Fried is one of those special founders whose vision is both stunningly ambitious and uniquely adapted to the future of crypto. The team's execution speaks for itself, with FTX growing to become a top global exchange in two years. There's a bright future ahead for Sam and FTX, and Paradigm is excited to be a part of it."
Another investor, Alfred Lin, partner at Sequoia Capital, commented, "FTX is the high-quality, global crypto exchange the world needs, and it has the potential to become the leading financial exchange for all types of assets. Sam is the perfect founder to build this business, and the team's execution is extraordinary. We are honoured to be their partners."
Orlando Bravo, founder and managing partner at Thoma Bravo, also commented, "We have watched with excitement as Sam and the FTX team have successfully built the most cutting-edge, sophisticated cryptocurrency exchange in the world. While this has been an incredible accomplishment in itself, their commitment to making a positive impact on the world through their business is what sets the company apart. We are thrilled to partner with FTX on their next phase of growth as they create a new ecosystem for crypto."
"In less than two years, Sam and team have built a unique company and culture centred around staying nimble and putting their customer first. These tenets, along with a product-led approach, have propelled FTX into a top global crypto exchange. However, we don't see it stopping there. As crypto becomes more ubiquitous, FTX has the opportunity to build a next generation financial services brand, spanning exchange, payments, and many other categories to come. The Ribbit team is excited to partner with them on their journey to grow the digital currency ecosystem and change finance" commented Nick Shalek, General Partner at Ribbit Capital
"Crypto has the potential to disrupt our global financial system, and we believe FTX will be core to this theme for years to come. Sam has a unique pulse on the market, and his team has a rare ability to release products at breakneck speed. In doing so, they have quickly become the leading global crypto exchange. We believe this is only the beginning of FTX's growth story and are thrilled to partner with them on the journey ahead." added Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners.
Kyle Samani, managing partner at Multicoin also added, "We have been carefully watching the FTX team over the last two years. They are far and away the best executing team in crypto, and have blown away everyone's expectations. They have firmly established themselves as the exchange with the best overall product offering, and are now leveraging the unique capabilities of global crypto rails to build the future of internet native finance. FTX is building the future of crypto, and we are incredibly excited to invest."
FTX.COM is a cryptocurrency exchange built by traders, for traders. It offers innovative products, including industry-leading derivatives, options and volatility products, tokenised stocks, prediction markets, leveraged tokens and an OTC desk.
