Amber Group, a Singapore-based crypto lender, announced a $300 million fundraise today, amid layoffs and refocusing at the company.
Amber announced in a tweet that it had closed a Series C round led by Fenbushi Capital US, with other unnamed crypto-native investors and family offices participating.
Amber had been seeking a $3 billion valuation in a Series B+ round prior to the chaos caused by FTX’s collapse last month. Amber stated that this has now been paused following a “partial closing” of $50 million in favor of moving forward with the $300 million Series C announced today. Amber did not disclose the latest raise’s valuation, but Bloomberg reported that it is less than the $3 billion raised in February.
According to Bloomberg, the majority of the money raised in the Series C round is for customers who lost money on Amber’s product as a result of FTX’s collapse. Darshan Bathija, the CEO of troubled crypto lender Vauld, is one such customer to whom Amber owes $130 million.
Amber, which was founded in 2017, offers a wide range of services to institutional clients, ranging from trading and liquidity to yield products. It began laying off employees in September. These layoffs are said to have continued into December, reducing the firm’s headcount from around 1,100 to 400.
After Sam Bankman-crypto Fried’s empire collapsed last month, Amber assured customers that it had no exposure to FTX’s token FTT or sister firm Alameda Research. However, it admitted to having 10% of its trading capital locked up on FTX when withdrawals were first restricted.
Amber’s expansion plans in the United States and Europe have been scaled back in recent weeks, according to The Block. It is also attempting to renegotiate sponsorship deals with top-tier European football clubs as it reconsiders its consumer-facing efforts.
“Moving forward, we will be scaling down our mass consumer efforts and non-essential business lines, in an effort to focus on our core businesses and clients,” Amber said in a series of tweets announcing the fundraise. These have not been easy decisions, and we have had to say goodbye to many of our outstanding colleagues.”
