Sequoia Capital marks that the founder and CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, informed investors today that he required emergency funding. The funding to make up a shortfall of up to $8 billion was caused by withdrawal requests that receive recently.
When FTX was valued at $18 billion in July 2021, Sequoia Capital made a financial commitment. As information about FTX’s abrupt unspooling continues to emerge. It is difficult to read the move as anything other than a clear indication. Sequoia wants to keep putting as much space between itself and FTX as possible.
What is already known: The native token of the FTX, FTT, was sold off by Binance, an early FTX investor. Who later became a fierce rival, due to “recently discovered revelations” FTT was worth $529 million at the time. In a report earlier today, the SEC has started looking into whether FTX mishandled customer funds and its connections to other parts of Bankman-crypto Fried’s empire.
It puts many businesses with connections to FTX, including Sequoia, in a precarious situation. What happens in the likely event that none of FTX’s supporters want to extend a lifeline to FTX the question. A liquidity crunch has created solvency risk for FTX in recent days,” said FTX Sequoia Capital.
The company’s loss of $150 million is offset by $7.5 billion in realized and unrealized gains in the same fund, so the fund is still in good shape. As of August 2022, FTX generated approximately $1B in revenue and more than $250M in operating income in 2021, the year of our investment. The current situation is rapidly evolving. Sequoia also values its private company investments at a discount to their previous valuation.
