RIT Capital Partners, previously known as the Rothschild Investment Trust, has successfully acquired a stake in Kraken, a US cryptocurrency exchange.
The acquisition of the stake was announced to the investors on the trust in a webinar that was hosted by institutional broker Numis Securities.
Blockchain.news cited a note to the investors last April 12, where Ewan Lovett-Turner, the Director and Head of Investment Companies Research at Numis Securities, called the move “a secondary market purchase at what (RIT Capital) thought was an attractive value.”
The same note, however, did not reveal the size of the investment or the amount paid, and other pertinent terms of the deal.
Kraken plans to go public
Plans of going public via a direct listing in 2022 have pushed Kraken crypto exchange to seek further funding. CoinMarketCap places Kraken as the 4th largest crypto exchange in terms of market cap with its claim of having 6 million clients.
In terms of funds, the exchange seems to be well funded. Its last round of funding in 2019 was closed by company CEO Jesse Powell who raised $13.5 million, giving the company a valuation of $4 billion.
The latest craze in the hot cryptocurrency market has made Kraken exchange exert more effort to pursue a bigger valuation as it plans its listing on public markets like what Coinbase did.
Previous plans aborted
Talks with investors have been initiated by the exchange to enable it to go public with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company at a value of $10 billion.
But Kraken, later on, shelved its original plans, seeking to raise fresh capital that would make the company’s value double in amount.
The California-based crypto exchange has been aggressive in its solicitation efforts to get a valuation of $20 billion and give it a chance at making good in the surging interest in the crypto industry.
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