Amber Group Raises $200M in Temasek-Led Round at $3B Valuation

Temasek, one of Singapore's major sovereign wealth funds, led a $200 million investing round in Amber Group, a firm that provides liquidity and market-making services to clients throughout Asia. The funding valued Amber Group at $3 billion.

• Amber Group said that it will use the proceeds to hire staff in Europe and the Americas, citing institutional demand in those markets.
• In June, Amber Group closed a $100 million Series B round that valued the firm at $1 billion, meaning that its valuation has tripled in less than a year, even though the crypto market is shifting toward bear territory.
• Amber Group said it has more than 1,000 institutional clients and more than $5 billion in assets under management.
• The firm was initially based in Hong Kong, but its executive team recently moved to Singapore. It still maintains an office in Hong Kong.
• Although Singapore has become less friendly to crypto firms, discouraging them from targeting retail customers, firms like Amber Group almost exclusively target institutional clients, although it said it will use the funding round to expand its retail offerings.
• Temasek has been an active investor in the crypto market, and observers see it as having an investment strategy similar to SoftBank. GIC, Singapore’s other major fund, is also present in the crypto market, but is a more conservative investor.
• Amber Group said it will use some of the fresh capital to expand WhaleFin, a retail-targeted app that allows consumers to earn yield on their crypto holdings.
• Earlier this month, WhaleFin Holdings Japan acquired licensed exchange DeCurret, which is also based in Japan.