Flared-Gas Bitcoin Miner Crusoe Energy Raises $350M Series C
Categories: Bitcoin US
Crusoe Energy, the company that pioneered bitcoin mining by using wasted natural gas as a power source, raised $505 million in a new funding round to expand its operations throughout the U.S. and internationally.
The Denver, Colorado-based miner raised $350 million in a Series C equity offering led by climate technology venture capital firm G2 Venture Partners, according to a statement. Crusoe also closed credit facilities, expandable to up to $155 million, with SVB Capital, Sparkfund and Generate Capital.
“The capital provided in this Series C financing unlocks Crusoe’s ability to execute on key elements of our vision, specifically it enables us to expand and diversify our energy sources, computing workloads and vertical integration,” said Chase Lochmiller, CEO and co-founder of Crusoe Energy.
The company will use the new funds to expand its “Digital Flare Mitigation” technology across the U.S. and internationally, as well as launch a new cloud computing platform, called CrusoeCloud, where energy-intensive High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems will be powered by flare gas and renewable energy sources. CrusoeCloud will be launched publicly later this year, Lochmiller said.
Crusoe, which recently was recognized for its “innovative” solution to generating energy by the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction Initiative report, has several mobile sites across the U.S.Crusoe’s customers include Devon Energy (DVN), Kraken Oil & Gas, Canadian oil firm Enerplus (ERF) and others. Notably, Crusoe is reportedly working on a pilot project with Exxon (XOM) to use flared gas at the energy giant’s North Dakota oil wells to power bitcoin mining operations.
ESG push
Using flared gas to mine digital assets has emerged as a popular trend among both the crypto mining and energy industries. The process helps energy companies reduce their flaring footprint, as a plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 laid out by the International Energy Agency (IEA) would require all non-emergency flaring to be eliminated globally by 2030. Meanwhile, crypto miners and data centers, which use tremendous amounts of energy, are able to source cheap and sustainable energy for their operation
‘Clear leader’
The funding comes at a time when capital markets for crypto miners have somewhat dried up and miners are getting creative in raising capital for their growth, including leveraging their existing mining rigs and mined bitcoins to secure debt.Crusoe raised $128 million in Series B financing in April last year, led by Valor Equity Partners.The new raise would be among one of the largest funding rounds for a privately held crypto mining company.
In February, Compute North, a provider of sustainable infrastructure for cryptocurrency mining, closed a $385 million round that includes an $85 million Series C fundraise and $300 million debt financing. Another private miner, GEM Mining raised $200 million in institutional capital in December. Meanwhile, new investors include Inclusive Capital Partners, Tao Capital, Castle Island Ventures and actor Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition Ventures, among others.