The firm said it would continue scaling its global operations, deepening its regulated footprint, and expanding its product suite, both organically and through targeted acquisitions.
- The firm raised $800 million in two tranches, with the first led by institutional investors and the second by Citadel Securities.
- “The caliber of our new investors reflects both the scale of the opportunity ahead and the depth of alignment around how this infrastructure should be built.” — Co-CEO, Arjun Sethi.
- Now worth more than Bullish and Gemini, Kraken isn’t rushing its IPO.
Crypto exchange Kraken said on Tuesday that its latest fundraising valued the firm at $20 billion, a significant 33% increase from its previous capital raise.
The firm raised $800 million in two tranches. Kraken said the first tranche was led by institutional investors, including Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, HSG, Oppenheimer Alternative Investment Management, and Tribe Capital, as well as a significant commitment from Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi’s family office. It also received a $200 million investment from Citadel Securities in another tranche.
What Was The Rationale Behind The Fundraise
Kraken said it would continue scaling its global operations, deepening its regulated footprint, and expanding its product suite, both organically and through targeted acquisitions. The company has already been expanding its offering over the past few months by integrating U.S. futures trading through its acquisition of NinjaTrader, launching equities and tokenized equity trading, and introducing KRAK, a global app for payments, savings, and investing.
“The caliber of our new investors reflects both the scale of the opportunity ahead and the depth of alignment around how this infrastructure should be built,” Sethi said. The move comes amid a favorable regulatory environment in the U.S. for cryptocurrency trading firms, which has led to the public listing of several companies in the industry.
Kraken Is More Valuable Than Listed Peers
Last month, Kraken, founded in 2011, said its third-quarter revenue more than doubled to $648 million while its total platform transaction volume climbed to $576.8 billion. In its previous fundraising round, Kraken was valued at about $15 billion.
The latest round made Kraken more valuable than some of its listed peers, Bullish and Gemini Space Station, which currently have valuations of $5.5 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively. Industry leader Coinbase is valued at over $71 billion as of Tuesday’s closing price.
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits about Coinbase was in the ‘neutral’ territory, while traders were ‘bullish’ about Gemini Space Station and ‘extremely bullish’ about CoinDesk-parent Bullish.
Despite making strong debuts this year, the cryptocurrency firms have seen their market capitalization slump amid a downtrend in digital asset prices. Last week, Sethi said that the firm was not in a rush to launch its widely anticipated initial public offering.
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