Market maker Auros raises fresh capital to repair finances hit by FTX collapse

Crypto market maker Auros raised $17 million from new investors as it seeks to move on from financial woes caused by FTX's collapse.

High frequency trading firm Vivienne Court, Nasdaq-listed digital asset mining company Bit Digital, Trovio, Epoch Capital, Primal Capital and senior alumni from market making giant Optiver invested in the fund raise, Auros said in a statement.

Marcel Klooss, co-founder of Vivienne Court, and Hughes Ching, co-founder of Bit Digital, will join the Auros board of directors, the firm said.

The fresh capital injection will help Auros move past a provisional liquidation and restructuring process it entered late last year, co-founder Benjamin Roth said in an email response to questions from The Block. The firm ran into financial problems and missed several loan repayments after about $20 million of its assets were stuck on the FTX platform after the exchange filed for bankruptcy.

''We are also well-placed to further expand our strategic market making business and help create healthy, liquid markets for all of our partners,'' Roth wrote. ''It is also important to note that the business continued to operate as usual throughout this process, and we have continued to support all of our partners this entire time.''

The latest funding round will also be used to expand the firm's derivatives solutions and high frequency trading businesses, the Auros statement said.

Update: story updated to clarify the nature of Auros's financial problems.