Crypto Lender Matrixport Raises Valuation to $1.5B Despite FTX Collapse

Asian cryptocurrency unicorn Matrixport Technologies is seeking $100 million in funding despite its presence in a digital asset market still feeling the shockwaves of FTX’s collapse.

Bloomberg News reports that the Singapore company has received a commitment from investors for half of that funding at a valuation of $1.5 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

As PYMNTS has reported, Matrixport was valued at $1 billion following a Series C funding round last year. The Bloomberg report notes that the company is still seeking investors for the remaining $50 million.

The company’s funding request comes as investors are feeling the sting of a number of major crypto failures, leading to calls for regulation from within the industry and various governments around the world.

According to Bloomberg, Matrixport said it has no risk of insolvency due to the collapse of the FTX exchange, although dozens of its customers saw losses through exposure to FTX-linked products on its platform.

The news comes days after the venture capital (VC) firm Sequoia Capital apologized to its investors for its $150 million loss in the FTX implosion, and said it will increase its due diligence for future investments.

In a call with investors, partners said that Sequoia Capital had conducted due diligence on FTX and that the firm believed it was misled about FTX’s connections to Alameda Research.

It was FTX’s ties to Alameda Research that ultimately put the company on the road to bankruptcy earlier this month. Alameda — FTX’s sister trading company — was apparently significantly exposed to FTX’s FTT token, which underpinned its apparent solvency, and ultimately led to a “run” on FTX.

As PYMNTS’ Karen Webster wrote earlier this month, Sequoia published a profile of FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) in September that was one of many puffed-up pieces about them published in the months leading to the bankruptcy.

“Am I talking to the world’s first trillionaire?” the profile’s author asked a Sequoia partner, who replied, “Yes, I think [SBF] has a real chance at that.”