Temasek-Backed Amber Bags US$300M Series C Amidst Mass Layoffs, Sparrow Acquisition

Global digital asset platform Amber Group announced that it has completed its US$300 million Series C round led by Fenbushi Capital US.

The latest round also saw participation from various other crypto-native investors and family offices that were .

Amber Group’s Series C round is the largest investment the firm has received following its US$200 million Series B+ round earlier this year.

“At Amber Group, our sights are set on business sustainability, and we go above and beyond to protect our clients as we weather the current market environment. This means making difficult but necessary choices to safeguard our clients, with a runway for long-term growth.

While this strategic business adjustment is made in response to the challenges of the current market, this will ultimately lay the groundwork for us to build a more resilient and agile business that will continue to deliver best-in-class services and growth for our clients, no matter the season,”

said Amber Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Wu.

Prior to the collapse of FTX, Amber was in the process of completing an extension to its Series B+ at a US$3 billion valuation ahead of the crypto winter.

Amber halted its efforts for the Series B following a partial closing and instead moved with the Series C to recover from the aftermath of its exposure to the now-bankrupt crypto firm FTX.

The company claimed that it had less than 10% of its total trading capital with FTX. While this meant that it had to “rebalance some positions”, ultimately it did not impact its operations.

However, the mass layoffs in Amber Group seems to belie this statement as the crypto firm had reportedly slashed its workforce by 30-40% according to Chinese reporter Colin Wu.

After layoffs of about 30%-40% in September, the Amber Group invested by Temasek began to lay off hundreds of people again in December, and asked Chinese employees to work from home and clear their offices, according to former employees. Exclusive https://t.co/bmKMvuQtr8

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 6, 2022

Amber has also been forced to scrap its plans to expand Europe and the United States as well as pause its new metaverse project.

To add insult to injury, Amber had to ditch its £20million-a-year deal with Chelsea after becoming the club’s official sleeve partner in May.

Following the Series C fundraise, Amber said that it would be scaling down its mass consumer efforts and non-essential business lines, in an effort to focus on its core businesses and clients moving forward.

Despite the layoffs and supposed plans to scale down, Amber had proceeded to acquire Singaporean digital assets trading platform Sparrow for an undisclosed amount.

Sparrow had secured a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to provide Digital Payment Token services in August this year.

Just last month, the crypto community was rocked by the news that Amber’s 30-year-old Co-founder Tiantian Kullander had tragically passed away in his sleep.

Amber took the opportunity to remember the late Tiantian when they made their Series C announcement.

9) As our late co-founder and dear friend Tiantian always said, “One step at a time, and we will become the unquestionable category-leader in the industry.”

— Amber Group (@ambergroup_io) December 16, 2022