Date: June 21, 2021
News Author(s): Rita Liao
Photo Credit: Amber Group
Source: Tech Crunch
More mainstream venture capital firms are jumping on the crypto bandwagon as investors increasingly consider bitcoin an investable asset, despite the recent massive price drops of a few major cryptocurrencies. Amber Group, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency trading startup, said on Monday it has raised $100 million in a Series B funding round at a pre-money valuation of $1 billion.
The latest valuation is ten times that of the company’s Series A closed in 2019, a $28 million round that counted Coinbase Ventures as one of its investors. Also notably, Amber’s Series B financing was bankrolled by a list of high-profile financial and VC firms, including China Renaissance, which led the round, and Tiger Brokers, Tiger Global Management, Arena Holdings, Tru Arrow Partners, Sky9 Capital, DCM Ventures, and Gobi Partners.
Its past investors Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and Blockchain.com also participated in the round.
In May, Babel Finance, another crypto asset manager based out of Hong Kong, secured $40 million in funding from a number of big-name institutional investors, including Amber’s investor Tiger Global.
Founded by a group of former investment bankers in their twenties, Amber initially set out to apply machine learning algorithms to quantitative trading but pivoted in 2017 to crypto when the team saw spikes in virtual currency’s trading volumes. The startup now serves both institutional and individual investors, offering them algorithmic trading, electronic market-making, high-frequency trading, OTC trading, borrowing and lending, derivatives, among other products.
The firm launched its mobile app in the third quarter of 2020, widening its scope from institutional clients to retail consumers. It said the trading app has so far accumulated over 100,000 registered users.
Amber has been profitable since its inception, according to its co-founder and CEO Michael Wu, with annualized revenues of $500 million based on figures from January to April 2021.
The startup has seen “record months over the past quarter across both client flow and on-exchange market-making volumes,” said Wu, and it now accounts for “2-3% of total trading volumes in major spot and derivative markets.” Its cumulative trading volumes have doubled from $250 billion since the beginning of the year to over $500 billion. Altogether, it manages around $1.5 billion in trading capital that varies based on BTC and ETH prices.
Amber has over 330 employees worldwide across Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, and Vancouver. The proceeds from its Series B will go towards global expansion.
Keyword : sterlinghousetrust.com, Sterling House Trust, SHT
Sterling House Trust is a private trust with a difference. It offers its members an exclusive and reliable platform to access unique opportunities and lifestyle services reserved for the select few. With its team of professional managers Sterling House Trust constantly scans the markets and collaborate with reliable global partners to create a portfolio of carefully curated programmes for its members. Members can access these programmes according to their individual needs, interest and financial capacity. Sterling House Trust is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, and has operations based in London, UK.
The Sterling House Trust platform was established with the objective of providing its members, secure access to opportunities across a range of global locations, sectors and services.
Our unique Platform was established within the framework of a trust so that the trust would have oversight and governance over the range of services and its quality. Member protection is a core principle and drive in all that we do. Our trustees ensures that the interests and quality of service provided by the Platform are always maintained at the highest standards.
The trust and its trustees provide robust oversight and is constantly on the move to identify and shortlist select opportunities in the international markets. Likewise, we apply the same stringent standards in identifying and selecting providers and professional partners to join our Platform.
The Sterling House Trust Platform utilises our international footfall and relationships to provide our members with access to a range of international opportunities via our global network which covers a broad range of sectors including:
Asset protection, international property ownership and management, alternative and direct ownership, estate planning, banking services, foreign exchange, card services, alternative investment and lifestyle services.
New Zealand Head Office
31/335 Lincoln Road,
Addington
Christchurch
New Zealand
London Office
14-16 Dowgate Hill,
London,
England EC4R 2SU
