The new funding from Fenbushi aims to help Amber address some of the “significant drawdowns” as an aftermath of the FTX default.
Fenbushi Capital US, a venture capital firm specializing in blockchain technology, led a new $300 million Series C investment round for Amber, the business announced on Twitter on December 15.
Due to FTX’s failure, Amber opted to hold its prior Series B funding and move on with Series C. This led to the timing of the new funding round. The cryptocurrency trading company was working on finishing an extension of its Series B at a $3 billion valuation when FTX failed.
As was previously reported, the business aimed to close the Series B investment round by January 2023 by raising $100 million. Amber had amassed $50 million as of mid-December 2022.
The latest funding from Fenbushi aims to help the cryptocurrency trading company address some of the “significant drawdowns” of Amber’s specific products as an aftermath of the FTX default, the firm said.
“That’s why we reacted quickly to adjust our fundraising strategy,” Amber noted, adding that the firm will be also scaling down its mass consumer efforts and “non-essential business lines” to focus on core businesses.
As such, the cryptocurrency trading company has scrapped plans to expand to Europe and the United States, also ditching some metaverse-related projects. Amber underlined that despite having 10% of its total trading capital invested in FTX at the time of its collapse, the FTX contagion has not had an impact on the company’s day-to-day operations.
The company also mentioned that it had to lay off some employees due to the FTX contagion: “These have not been easy decisions, and we, unfortunately, have had to say goodbye to many of our excellent colleagues.” According to some reports, Amber laid off more than 40% of its staff in September and December 2022.
Amber has kept up its acquisition goals despite scrapping expansion plans and firing employees. On December 14, Amber paid an unknown sum to buy the Singaporean cryptocurrency platform Sparrow Holdings. The cryptocurrency trading company, is proactive in seeking additional finance to lessen the effects of its exposure to the defunct FTX exchange.
