Charting FTX’s Rapid Rise in Valuation; Worldcoin Is Already a Unicorn

By  |  Oct. 21, 2021 4:56 PM PDT

Today’s chart shows how quickly FTX’s valuation has risen this year. The crypto exchange said Thursday it was raising $420 million from 69 investors—numbers that have become talismans on the Internet—at a valuation of $25 billion. Meme jokes aside, that price reflects a nearly 40% rise from its last funding round just three months ago. 

Among venture capital-backed startups with operations in the U.S., the exchange is now the second-most valuable crypto company. It’s just behind Revolut, the $33 billion-valuation consumer fintech company that offers cryptocurrency purchases. FTX overtook Kraken, a rival exchange that is valued at $20 billion, according to PitchBook data. 

The Bahamas-based FTX was founded just under three years ago and has been attracting larger, mainstream investors. Its latest funding round includes Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Tiger Global Management and BlackRock.

Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
From left, a Google TPU, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian. Photos via Getty, Google and YouTube.
Exclusive google semiconductors
To Reduce AI Costs, Google Wants to Ditch Broadcom as Its TPU Server Chip Supplier
Google executives have extensively discussed dropping Broadcom as a supplier of artificial intelligence chips as early as 2027, according to a person with direct knowledge of the effort.
Art by Clark Miller
Exclusive startups entertainment
MasterClass Takes a Crash Course in Frugality
MasterClass had a problem with the shoot featuring its latest star instructor, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger.
Photo via Midjourney.
AI Agenda startups ai
The Rise of Startups That Help Other Startups Evaluate LLMs
All but a handful of artificial intelligence startups typically fall into one of two camps. The first group uses a single large-language model, typically OpenAI’s GPT-4, to power their applications.
Photos via Eiso Kant (left) and YouTube/VMWare Tanzu (right)
AI Agenda startups ai
How GitHub Copilot’s Co-Creator Raised $126 Million to Compete with His Former Employer
Recent interest in artificial intelligence has focused on large-language models that aim to do everything from writing Shakespearean poetry to solving math riddles.
If AI researchers can meet Nat Friedman's Vesuvius Challenge, “It’ll be the first time we’ve read handwriting that hasn’t been seen in 2,000 years.” Art by Clark Miller
The AI Age culture ai
Nat Versus the Volcano: Can an AI Investor Solve an Ancient Mystery from the Ashes of Vesuvius?
Long before men’s daily thoughts about ancient Rome became a TikTok meme , former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman’s mind was regularly turning toward the Roman Empire.
Photo via Jacopo Pantaleoni.
AI Agenda ai
Nvidia Engineer’s Message to Google AI Researchers: Leave Your Company
Jacopo Pantaleoni joined Nvidia in 2001 when the company had less than 500 employees. He worked on what was then a small research project to improve Nvidia’s graphics processing units so they could better render images on computers and gaming consoles.