MoonPay insiders pocketed $150 million weeks before CEO bought $38 million mansion: The Information

Quick Take

  • A few weeks before buying his $38 million Miami mansion, MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright and other shareholders received $150 million during a Series A raise that valued the company at $3.4 billion.

MoonPay insiders including co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright received $150 million during the crypto payment startup's Series A raise in late November 2021, according to report from The Information, which cited an unnamed source.

During the 2021 Series A, MoonPay announced it had raised $555 million at a valuation of $3.4 billion with investors including Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management participating. But some of the money, rather than going to the company, was instead used to buy shares from existing shareholders like Soto-Wright.

"MoonPay raised $405 million by selling shares to investors, and the remaining $150 million represented shares cashed out by insiders in a secondary transaction," according to an anonymous source cited by The Information. Those insiders included Soto-Wright, according to the report.

MoonPay confirmed the Series A funding round included secondary sales, something that was not previously made public, according to the report. The company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Block.

A few weeks after the Series A funding round, Soto-Wright purchased a $38 million mansion in Miami, a residence he's used to host swanky parties like the one held during last year's Art Basel art festival.



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RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block who covers a wide array of topics including U.S.-based companies, blockchain gaming and NFTs. Formerly covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy while focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previous to that he covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil while at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a diverse cast of characters including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. Holds a master's degree in Digital Sociology.

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