Shares of Eightco Holdings (ORBS) surged 12% on Thursday after the company announced it had secured $125 million in new funding to support investments in blockchain and artificial intelligence.
The company revealed on Wednesday that Bitmine led the funding round with $75 million, while ARK Invest and Payward — the parent firm of the crypto exchange Kraken — each contributed $25 million.
As part of the deal, Bitmine chairman Tom Lee will join Eightco’s board of directors. Meanwhile, Brett Winton will serve as a board adviser.
At the same time, Dan Ives, who became chairman in September, stepped down from the role.
Eightco said the newly raised capital will help expand its investments in technologies shaping the next generation of AI, blockchain infrastructure, and global digital consumer platforms.
Investments in OpenAI and MrBeast’s company
The firm also announced a $50 million strategic investment in OpenAI. In addition, it invested $25 million in Beast Industries, the company owned by YouTuber James Donaldson, widely recognized online as MrBeast.
According to Eightco, these investments position the company at the intersection of cutting-edge AI development and digital content creation, giving it ownership stakes in some of the world’s leading innovators.
Shares in Eightco ended trading on Thursday up 11.67% to 90 cents in reaction to the announcement. The stock saw a slight fall after hours, dropping by 2.6% to 88 cents.
Shares in Eightco are down over 92.49% in the past six months as stocks tied to crypto have been battered amid a broad market downturn.
Eightco Holdings is an e-commerce inventory management platform that made its first major move into crypto in September. At the time, the company announced plans to purchase and hold Worldcoin (WLD), a decision that triggered a dramatic market reaction and sent its share price soaring about 3,000% in a single day.
