Jihan Wu’s Matrixport plans to raise $40M at a post-money valuation of $300M - report

Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu’s crypto financial services startup Matrixport is reportedly seeking to raise $40 million at a post-investment valuation of $300 million.

Bloomberg reported the news on Wednesday, citing “people familiar with the matter.” Matrixport is said to have already pitched to investors in recent weeks.

Publicly launched last July, Matrixport has been operating since February 2019, the firm’s COO Daniel Yan told The Block last month. The startup’s business lines include crypto trading, lending, and custody - for both retail and institutional clients.

Matrixport took in $7-8 million in revenue last year and expects that to more than double this year, according to a slide deck viewed by Bloomberg. The startup was valued at $114 million in a previous round, according to the deck.

In terms of assets under management, Matrixport has amassed over $500 million worth of crypto under custody, as The Block reported last month. It has also generated around $100 million in outstanding loans and has processed over $500 million in spot crypto trades.

“Because of this relationship [with Bitmain], it’s so easy [to get sales inbounds]. We know the Bitmain salespersons really well and we work together,” Yan told The Block at the time.

The core part of Matrixport’s client inflow comes from miners. The platform runs an over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk to process large trades and offers various risk management solutions to miners via derivatives contracts and structured products.

On the retail side, Matrixport supports spot trading and offers a dual-currency contract that settles in either Circle-Coinbase's USDC stablecoin or bitcoin. The platform also offers its custody and lending services to retail users.