FTX's valuation swells to $32B in fundraise for crypto exchange

Cryptocurrency exchange operator FTX has raised a $400 million Series C at a $32 billion valuation, a nearly 30% increase from the value of $25 billion it garnered in October.
 

• The Bahamas-based company has raised close to $2 billion across three rounds since July.

 

• FTX says it is now the third-largest crypto exchange in the world, but it does not operate in the US. For that purpose, the company created FTX US, an affiliate exchange, which last week raised its first outside round of $400 million at a valuation of $8 billion.

 

• All investors in FTX's Series C, such as Temasek, SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global, also participated in its US affiliate's round.

 

• Earlier this month, the company launched a $2 billion venture fund for investing in crypto-focused startups.

 

• The flurry of activity comes amid a sharp pullback in the prices of cryptocurrencies and shares of FTX's main rival Coinbase, which has seen its share price fall nearly 45% since its IPO in April.

 

• Since there is often a lag between the signing of terms and public announcements, it is possible that investors agreed to the price of the FTX deal before the market sell-off began earlier this month.

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