Amber Group has completed a new $300 million Series C funding round, led by blockchain-focused venture capital firm Fenbushi Capital US, according to ad the company on Twitter on December 15.
The new round of funding comes as Amber has decided to put its previous Series B funding on hold and proceed to Series C instead due to the collapse of FTX.
Prior to the FTX failure, Amber was in the process of completing an extension of its Series B at a valuation of $3 billion. As previously reported, the firm had planned to raise $100 million as part of Series B financing, with the goal of completing the round by January 2023. In mid-December 2022, Amber raised $50 million in the round.
Fenbushi’s latest funding is aimed at helping Amber cope with some of the “significant drawdowns” of specific Amber products as a result of FTX’s default, the company said.
“That is why we have reacted quickly and have adjusted our fundraising strategy,” Amber said, adding that the company will also reduce its consumer goods activities and “non-core business lines” to focus on your core activities. In this way, Amber has scrapped its expansion plans to Europe and the United States, as well as some projects related to the metaverse.
Amber reiterated that the FTX contagion has not affected the company’s day-to-day operations despite the fact that Amber held around 10% of her total trading capital in FTX at the time of its collapse.
The company also mentioned that it had to lay off some employees due to the FTX contagion: “They have not been easy decisions and, unfortunately, we have had to say goodbye to many of our excellent colleagues.” According to some reports, Amber laid off more than 40% of its workforce in September and December 2022.
Despite abandoning its expansion plans and laying off staff, Amber has not given up on its acquisition ambitions. On December 14, Amber acquired Singaporean cryptocurrency platform Sparrow Holdings for an undisclosed amount.
Cryptocurrency trading firm Amber Group is taking steps to mitigate the fallout from trading exposure to the failing FTX exchange by proactively raising new funds.
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