Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX Raises Another $400 Million With Eye to M&A

(Bloomberg) -- Crypto juggernaut FTX Trading Ltd. said it raised $400 million as part of its latest funding round, which now values the company at $32 billion.

The Series-C round saw participation from Temasek, Paradigm, Lightspeed Venture Partners, as well as SoftBank Vision Fund 2, among others, according to a statement.

FTX plans to expand this year and the funds will likely go toward mergers and acquisitions, said Sam Bankman-Fried, the chief executive officer. Interesting areas to target include payments businesses, NFT-centric firms and the metaverse, he said.

“By default, we are net profitable and so we don't need to be raising for that reason -- but a reason that it is helpful, however, is when you look at potential acquisitions and investments,” Bankman-Fried said in an interview. “There are a number of business that we think might be synergistic with ours.”

FTX has spent close to $1 billion on recent acquisitions, including Blockfolio to help expand the retail user base, as well as LedgerX (now known as FTX US Derivatives), a crypto derivatives platform that was bought last year.

The time is ripe for mergers and acquisitions because there's a lot of interest on the side of potential targets, said Bankman-Fried. Funding is getting challenging for some firms, something that FTX can offer, he added.

Other participants in the Series-C round include Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, Steadview Capital and Tiger Global. In October, FTX was valued at $25 billion following a separate financing round.

FTX has become one of the world's largest crypto exchanges since its launch about three years ago, in part through marketing. The company has put its name on a Miami basketball arena and has partnerships with popular public figures, including a long-term one with celebrity couple Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen.

Asked if Brady, who has a stake in FTX and has starred in its TV advertisements, will be part of the upcoming FTX Super Bowl ad, Bankman-Fried declined to comment, though he expects it will be “pretty good.”