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Crypto financial services company Amber Group successfully raised $100 million in a recent funding round. The Hong Kong-based startup was valued at $1 billion in the funding round.
Amber Group’s Series B fundraiser was led by investment bank China Renaissance, according to CNBC. Other high-profile investors who participated include the New York-based Tiger Global Management, Coinbase’s venture arm, and other existing investors.
Amber Group co-founder and CEO Michael Wu explained that proceeds will be used to “expand global operations to meet client demand and develop market solutions for the world’s leading crypto investors and companies,” according to Cointelegraph. The company has operations in Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, and Vancouver.
The crypto financial services firm has experienced significant growth in the past four years. Amber Group now has over $1 billion in assets under management (AUM) and more than $500 billion of cumulative trade volumes.
“We’ve had record months over the past quarter across both client flow and on-exchange market-making volumes,” Wu explained. “Since stepping up our on-screen presence, we now account for 2-3% of total trading volumes in major spot and derivative markets and are continuing to see growth. Our cumulative trading volumes have doubled from $250 billion since the beginning of the year to over $500 billion.”
The company is on track to book $500 million in revenues by year-end. Wu said that between 70 and 80 percent of Amber Group’s revenue comes from net interest margin. Around 15 percent comes from trading fees.
Most of the firm’s customers are institutional investors. However, Wu said that his company is now making a push to gain individual investor customers as well.
“We don’t advocate heavy speculation or high use of leverage, rather we want our customers to be more long term, focus on risk management and get stable and attractive yield,” Wu said.
He also admits that regulation is a challenge for the firm. “I think regulation is always a challenge for this industry because it’s a very global industry,” Wu said. “It’s always about staying ahead or at least staying aware of the different regulations. We always take a very conservative approach to that.”
