It wasn’t simply Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen.
The roster of high-profile investors who misplaced cash betting on crypto trade FTX additionally included New England Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft and billionaire hedge fund supervisor Paul Tudor Jones, in line with courtroom filings launched late Monday.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s well-documented success at elevating cash and charming investors prolonged to a extra expansive set of superstar investors and big-name financers than was beforehand disclosed. FTX went via 4 fundraising rounds to succeed in a $32 billion valuation by early final 12 months, earlier than finally spiraling into chapter 11 in November.
Bankman-Fried, FTX’s co-founder and former CEO, has pleaded not responsible to a number of felony expenses, together with fraud and cash laundering. In December, he was launched on a $250 million bond whereas awaiting trial.
For enterprise backers, FTX represents a lack of historic proportions. Sequoia Capital stated in November that it had marked its funding of over $210 million all the way down to zero. Earlier than former fairness holders can start making an attempt to recoup any of their funding, prospects face an extended street to restoration, because the chapter course of winds its means via courtroom and throughout dozens of jurisdictions.
FTX’s enterprise investors included a number of luminaries. Dan Loeb managed over 6.1 million most well-liked shares via Third Level-connected enterprise funds. Rival trade Coinbase held practically 1.3 million most well-liked shares.
Jones, the founding father of Tudor Funding, apparently owned shares via a collection of household trusts. Kraft managed 155,144 shares of most well-liked inventory via beforehand undisclosed investments in FTX.
Brady, who at age 45 is the winningest quarterback in Nationwide Soccer League historical past, was a recognized FTX backer and a pitchman for the corporate. He held widespread inventory within the firm alongside Bündchen. The superstar couple introduced their divorce in October after 13 years of marriage.
CNBC has compiled and analyzed the next most well-liked share possession utilizing Delaware chapter courtroom filings.
Sequence B: July 2021
Regardless of being referred to as a Sequence B elevate, this July 2021 fundraising spherical was FTX’s first infusion of out of doors capital, excluding an early funding from Binance that was finally wound down. Investors included Paradigm and Sequoia, in addition to Thoma Bravo and Third Level. The $900 million spherical valued FTX at $18 billion.
Jones, who advised CNBC in October 2022 that his bitcoin publicity was “minor,” seems to have invested in FTX via a collection of household trusts.
Sequence B-1: October 2021
Simply months after a $900 million financing, FTX closed one other funding spherical for $420 million, which included lots of the authentic Sequence B backers. The investor record expanded to incorporate beforehand undisclosed capital from Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai’s family office, Blue Pool, among others.
Series C: January 2022
As FTX and Bankman-Fried spent hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising deals and sponsorships, the company continued to seek venture money at a voracious pace. In January 2022, FTX closed its $400 million Series C round at a valuation of $32 billion.
FTX US Series A: January 2022
FTX, which was based in the Bahamas, created FTX US in response to U.S. regulations on cryptocurrency trading. Regulators have since alleged that FTX US was separated from the international arm of FTX in name only.
In trying to establish its independence, FTX US closed a $400 million funding round in January 2022 from investors including Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek and Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund. Previously undisclosed venture backers for the round included Kraft and Daniel Och’s family office, Willoughby Capital.
According to bankruptcy filings and regulatory complaints, funds and customer assets moved freely among the FTX entities. Despite being partially regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FTX US clients face an equally arduous process in bankruptcy court to try and retrieve some of their money.
Equity investors in FTX US, like those in FTX, are staring at a zero.
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