US retail investing app Robinhood has slashed its offer to acquire UK crypto startup Ziglu amid the tumbling value of cryptocurrencies.
Robinhood announced its plan to acquire the FCA-regulated crypto firm back in April, with an original price tag of $170m.
But according to messages sent by Ziglu CEO Mark Hipperson on the crowdfunding platform Seedrs, seen by Sifted, the offer has been dropped to $72.5m.
Should the revised deal go through at more than half the original offer, some investors who backed Ziglu through Seedrs will see their return on investment plummet.
“Ziglu’s impressive team of deeply experienced financial services and crypto experts will help us accelerate our global expansion efforts,” wrote Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev in a blog post in April.
“Together with the Ziglu team, we’ll work to leverage the best of both companies, exploring new ways to innovate and break down barriers for customers across the UK and Europe.”
The turbulent conditions of the crypto market, demonstrated by firms like Three Arrows Capital and Celsius declaring bankruptcy, have put Ziglu in a weaker negotiating position.
Responding to the new offer from Robinhood, Ziglu founder Mark Hipperson said: “The board has spent significant time in discussion with Robinhood’s CEO and executive team negotiating and improving the terms of their revised offer.
“Based on these discussions and other considerations, we believe the revised proposal…is the best and only reasonable path forward for the company.”
A Ziglu spokesperson told UKTN that the “communication that was shared was marked as highly confidential and not for public release” and that all disclosable comments “were included in that document”.
The spokesperson added: “We don’t have anything more we can add at this time.”
Ziglu previously raised more than £13m over several funding rounds on the crowd investment platform Seedrs.
The “crypto winter”, a term used to describe the ongoing difficulties in the cryptoasset industry, also saw UK crypto giant Blockchain.com cut 25% of its workforce in July.
UKTN has contacted Robinhood for comment.
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