Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities receives its first outside investment from Sequoia at $22 billion valuation, report says

• Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities is set to receive its first outside investment ever from Sequoia Capital and Paradigm, according to The Wall Street Journal.
• Citadel will receive $1.15 billion in proceeds, valuing the market maker at about $22 billion.
• Citadel Securities is managed separately from the $43 billion hedge fund named Citadel.
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Citadel Securities is set to receive its first outside investment ever, with the market maker owned by billionaire Ken Griffin getting capital from Sequoia Capital and Paradigm, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The two investment firms are set to invest $1.15 billion, valuing Citadel Securities at around $22 billion, according to the report. Citadel Securities is managed separately from the $43 billion hedge fund named Citadel, which is also owned by Griffin.

The investment from Sequoia and Paradigm will give Citadel capital to continue its global expansion, according to the report, and it could be a step towards offering cryptocurrency services and ultimately bringing the company public. The report noted that Citadel currently has no plans to go ahead with a public listing in the imminent future.

Citadel Securities was founded in 2002 and handles about 27% of the shares that change hands in the US stock market each day. Much of those trades are directed to Citadel via payment-for-orderflow agreements with various brokerage firms like Robinhood.

A trading frenzy among retail investors amid the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with short-squeezes in so-called meme stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment, led to a surge in business for Citadel. The company saw its net trading revenue surge to $6.7 billion in 2020, which was nearly double its previous high set in 2018, according to the report.

But Citadel's relationship with brokerage firms like Robinhood has also led to increased scrutiny of the company by retail investors, ultimately leading to various conspiracy theories. Griffin has called his entanglement with retail investors a "bad Saturday Night Live joke."

Besides the trading controversies surrounding meme-stocks and Citadel, Griffin also managed to tick off some people by outbidding ConstitutionDAO for a rare copy of the US Constitution late last year.

"I was sitting at home in New York, and my son calls me to say, 'Dad, you have to buy the Constitution,'" Griffin said.