The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · Jun 2021

Amber Technologies Limited, which the article also calls Amber Group Limited, has attracted substantial investor interest, most recently closing a $100 million Series B round. The financing values the company at a $1 billion pre-money valuation, giving it unicorn status. Investors in this latest round include new backer China Renaissance Holdings Limited alongside Tiger Brokers, Tiger Global Management, Arena Holdings, Tru Arrow Partners, Sky9 Capital, DCM Ventures, and Gobi Partners. Existing supporters Pantera Advisors, Coinbase Ventures, and Blockchain Access UK also participated. While the articles do not detail the firm’s product offering, future roadmap, or operating metrics, the sizeable raise and valuation underscore investor confidence in its trajectory. The company’s ability to bring together a diverse consortium of global investors positions it for further growth initiatives that may follow this capital infusion.

Participated · Series B · Jun 2021

Amber Group is a Singapore-based crypto trading firm providing liquidity and market-making services, mostly in Asia, to institutional and retail clients. The firm had traded about $1 trillion cumulatively as of February and reports assets under management exceeding $5 billion. Amber was exposed to the FTX collapse—less than 10% of its trading capital was with FTX, though some products experienced significant drawdowns and required rebalancing. To protect affected clients and stabilize the business, Amber raised $300 million in a Series C led by Fenbushi Capital US, with participation from other crypto-native investors and family offices. The company said it will scale down mass consumer efforts and non-essential business lines to focus on core businesses and clients; it carried out an organizational realignment to an estimated 300 staff and cut management salaries, annual bonuses, and marketing expenses. Bloomberg reported Amber’s valuation has slid under $3 billion after it was last valued at $3 billion in a $200 million Series B extension in February. Amber Group operates a multi-product digital-asset platform serving both institutional and consumer markets, offering algorithmic execution, electronic and OTC market-making, derivatives, structured products, advisory services, the WhaleFin consumer app, and OpenVerse creator infrastructure. The company reports cumulative transaction volume surpassing $1 trillion and assets under management of over $5 billion. It has global operations across 12 cities, holds SOC 2 compliance, and has secured regulatory approvals in Australia, the UK, Japan, and Switzerland. Amber Group has been expanding via regulatory licensing and strategic acquisitions, including the purchase of Japanese crypto exchange DeCurret Inc. Future plans stated by management include hiring to support institutional growth in Europe and the Americas, expanding WhaleFin’s global footprint, advancing OpenVerse, and pursuing further strategic acquisitions and sustainability initiatives. Total historical capital raised and growth metrics position the company as a leading liquidity provider and digital-asset wealth platform in its markets. Amber Group began as a quantitative trading shop using machine learning and pivoted to crypto in 2017. It serves both institutional clients (over 700 institutions accounting for more than 70% of revenue) and retail users via a mobile app with over 100,000 registered users. The firm offers algorithmic trading, electronic market-making, high-frequency trading, OTC trading, borrowing and lending, and derivatives. Amber reports being profitable since inception with annualized revenues of $500 million (Jan–Apr 2021) and says Q2 revenue hit an all-time record, triple Q1. The company manages around $1.5 billion in trading capital and says cumulative trading volumes rose from $250 billion to over $500 billion year-to-date, representing roughly 2–3% of total trading volumes in major spot and derivative markets. It has more than 330 employees across Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and Vancouver and plans to use new proceeds for aggressive hiring, marketing/user acquisition and clearing regulatory hurdles in additional jurisdictions. Amber Group is a Hong Kong-based crypto finance startup founded in 2015 that provides diversified crypto finance solutions for enterprises. Its clients include exchanges, wallets and hedge funds. The company offers institutional-grade crypto finance services aimed at addressing a fragmented market. CEO Michael Wu said the firm aims to accelerate its mission of strengthening the crypto finance ecosystem and to meet growing client demand. Financially, Amber Group has just raised $28 million in a Series A round. Prior to this round it raised a pre-A from Plum Ventures.