FTX raises over $420 million, reaches $25 billion valuation

FTX, a global cryptocurrency exchange, raised $420.69 million in new Series B funding at a $25 billion valuation.

Why it matters: The new cash and stock value should help three-year-old FTX make more large acquisitions, like the recent buy of U.S. crypto futures exchange LedgerX, as it tries to narrow the gap with global rival Binance and U.S. rival Coinbase.

Investors include Ontario Teachers, Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Sea Capital, IVP, Iconiq, Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and BlackRock. For the sake of added crypto Reddit cred (beyond the $420.69), the press release notes there are exactly 69 investors.

Bonus: I interviewed FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for this Sunday night's episode of "Axios on HBO," from his new headquarters in the Bahamas.

The bottom line: FTX is known for catering to sophisticated crypto traders, but its recent sports sponsorship blitz ⁠— buying naming rights to the Miami Heat arena and stitching its logo into MLB playoff umpire uniforms ⁠— suggests a hard push into the retail market.