Despite a bear market, solar-powered Bitcoin miner Aspen Creek raises $8 million.
Aspen Creek Digital Corp. (ACDC), a brand-new bitcoin miner driven by solar energy, raised $8 million in a Series A fundraising lead by cryptocurrency financial services provider Galaxy Digital and blockchain investment business Polychain Capital.
According to Alexandra DaCosta, CEO of the company, the miner will utilize the money to build a second mining facility in Texas that will have a 30 MW mining capacity and be situated next to an 87 MW solar farm. The building is on schedule to open later this fall.
The funding comes as bitcoin miners battle to survive the bear market brought on by macroeconomic uncertainty, which has resulted in decreasing profit margins and an increase in energy expenses. Compute North, one of the major bitcoin mining data centers, has filed for bankruptcy, blaming the "crypto winter," problems with the supply chain, and difficulties working with its biggest lender.
Furthermore, investors are avoiding investing in capital-intensive crypto enterprises like bitcoin miners, which makes raising funds challenging. Contrary to what some other miners have done, ACDC got the investment by using the "power first" strategy, which involved securing infrastructure and power for its mining operations before attempting to raise money.
Although we weren't the only bitcoin mining operation seeking funding, DaCosta noted that our model stood out from the competition. She added that the company's strategy allowed ACDC to control mining power costs: "A lot of the headwinds that we were encountering in the capital markets actually made our investors more interested in our story."
Our story "really went from a PowerPoint to real life" when investors "saw the markets suffering from the run up in energy prices, the decrease in the price of bitcoin, and how exposed a mining company may be," Da Costa continued.
Polychain Capital was particularly drawn to ACDC's usage of renewable energy and capacity to resell surplus electricity to the grid. Olaf Carlson-Wee, the founder of PolychainCapital, said: "We're excited to partner with ACDC as they build out more long-term, fixed-cost renewable energy production to enable more predictable Bitcoin mining operations, while providing the flexibility to sell excess power opportunistically into volatile energy markets." We believe that ACDC is at the forefront of these activities. "It's amazing to watch Bitcoin's potential to promote green power production at scale," he continued.
Vespene Energy, a business based in Berkeley, California, that uses methane gas emitted from landfills to generate electricity for bitcoin mining, received investment from Polychain Capital in August.
ACDC, which was established in January, launched its operations in June at a 6 MW solar-powered facility in western Colorado that was also a component of a 10 MW solar farm. While this was going on, Galaxy assigned some of its own miners to be housed at the first ACDC site.
Given the challenging fundraising environment, Da Costa said she is pleased with the data provided by the mining business, which did not divulge its valuation with the latest raise. What was important to us was being able to raise money to maintain the pipeline of projects, she said.
She continued by saying that building connections with strategic investors who can support the company's expansion was more important to her than the valuation.
The business is also working on a third project, which will feature a 200MW solar farm nearby and 150MW of mining capacity. The facility is likewise in Texas and is scheduled to open in the summer.
Article Credit: Coin Desk
Join thousands of investors, Bitcoin B2B and Institutional at the World's Largest Bitcoin & Crypto Mining Conference & Expo- Mining Disrupt July 25-27, 2023 in Miami. Get your Tickets now at https://miningdisrupt.com
Chat, Network and Connect with many thousands of Miners and Professionals on the official Mining Disrupt Telegram Group: https://t.me/MiningDisruptOfficial
Comments
Post a Comment