Singapore’s native investment firm Temasek Holdings was among the top investors to lead a $200 million funding round for a leading global digital asset platform Amber Group boosting its valuation by $3 billion, just weeks amidst the city-state clamp down on marketing by crypto firms.
Others who participated in the Series B extension round include Sequoia China, Pantera Capital, and Tiger Global Management according to the press release by Amber Group via Twitter on 22nd February 2022.
Singapore is one of Asia’s most sought-after markets for crypto startups, and Temasek and its subsidiaries have made several investments in the past year. Chief Executive Officer Michael Wu said that Amber deliberately extended its Series B funding round, which was originally announced back in June, in order to onboard Temasek as an investor.
Wu in an interview said, “They are very strategic, so we made this special effort to bring them in.” The chief exec also revealed that Amber may seek another funding round later this year ahead of an initial public offering that could take place in the second half of 2023, most probably in the U.S.
Furthermore Amber plans to utilize the proceeds to fund its hiring activities across Europe and America and expand its footprint through a mobile application it launched last year globally, as per the statement.
Crypto and blockchain occupies the major chunk in Singapore’s fintech funding
According to the KPMG Pulse of FinTech 2021 report, a record 191 fintech deals drove Singapore’s fintech investment to $3.94 billion last year. Of that, crypto and blockchain funding occupies the major part with $1.48 billion in size with 82 deals. The exponential growth of investment reflects the growing recognition of the potential role of crypto and its underlying technologies in legacy financial systems.
Anton Ruddenklau, Global Fintech Leader at KPMG believes that cryptocurrencies and blockchain are expected to remain the most preferred areas of investment in 2022, with more crypto firms seeking regulatory clearance in order to help boost and develop the space. In Singapore especially, the rise in crypto investments has managed to surpass that of payments which held the top spot so far.