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After calling off its plans to go public via a SPAC at a $10.4 billion valuation in 2022, trading platform eToro has secured $250 million in funding at a $3.5 billion valuation. The money is not a typical equity round: it comes by way of an Advanced Investment Agreement (AIA), eToro founder and CEO Yoni […]
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Citing economic turbulence, buy now, pay later giant Affirm announced today that it is reducing its staff by 19%, or about 500 employees, and shutting down its crypto unit. That leaves the company with about 2,000 employees. In a written statement, Founder and CEO Max Levchin said that he takes “full responsibility for this decision […]
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FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried launched his own Substack newsletter today, in a very unusual move for someone who was recently arrested and is facing eight counts of U.S. criminal charges. In a post titled “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview,” Bankman-Fried maintains his innocence surrounding the collapse and bankruptcy of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange he […]
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Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested by The Royal Bahamas Police Force following reports that the United States filed criminal charges against the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and is likely to request his extradition. The Office of the Attorney General of The Bahamas issued a statement today, which was reported by BNO […]
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During an unprecedented bull run, crypto-focused investors raised, and deployed, billions of dollars in capital. But now, not only are VCs operating in a bearish crypto market, they are navigating the fallout of the FTX collapse and the potential impact it will have on their investment strategies moving forward. Double Down founder and general partner […]
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As more details emerge regarding the events that led to FTX’s bankruptcy and stunning collapse, the cryptocurrency exchange’s investors are also being scrutinized. Namely, many people are asking just how could so many high-profile investment firms pour a collective $2 billion with apparently so little due diligence. The notorious Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank, for example, […]
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Last month, Andreessen Horowitz — one of venture capital’s largest and most prominent players — announced that its “headquarters will be in the cloud” going forward. Founded in 2009 in Menlo Park, California, the firm — also known as a16z — has for years been a symbol of Silicon Valley investing. Its new philosophy in […]
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Rocketplace, a startup that aims to build a “next-generation asset management platform for crypto,” has raised $9 million in a seed funding round. A few things about this raise stood out. For one, the funding comes at an interesting time in the crypto world — during the so-called “crypto winter” and a period that has […]
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Multi-asset social investment network and Robinhood competitor eToro has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Gatsby — a fintech startup which also aimed to go head to head against Robinhood — for $50 million in a cash and common stock deal. Israel-based eToro told TechCrunch this week that it just received approval from FINRA, the […]
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In this challenging fundraising environment, more startups than ever are turning to alternative financial solutions such as debt. Despite the negative connotation associated with debt, a startup should not view it as an act of desperation during downturns, as TechCrunch’s Kyle Wiggers has recently noted. Companies that have high recurring revenue and visibility into future […]
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