Australian green energy Bitcoin mining firm doubles pre-IPO funding round

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Iris Energy has upped its target for its second-IPO funding round.

Iris Energy, an Australian firm that invests in Bitcoin (BTC) mining data centers powered by renewable energy sources, has doubled its second pre-initial public offering round.

According to Bloomberg, a 13 million Australian dollar ($10 million) commitment from equity manager outfit Platinum Asset Management has seen Iris increase its second pre-IPO target to 40 million Australian dollars ($31 million) from the initial 20 million Australian dollars set earlier in mid-February.

As reported by Financial Review back in Dec 2020, the Bitcoin miner secured $19.5 million in equity funding and $3.9 million in debt during its first pre-IPO funding round.

Firms like Regal Funds Management and Thorney led the equity funding round.

Meanwhile, Iris Energy is getting set to apply to the Australian Securities Exchange for an IPO in the summer. The Bitcoin miner reportedly has a $39 million target for the summer float with the proceeds of the IPO earmarked for the expansion of its BTC mining enterprise.

Indeed, Iris Energy has set its sights on upscaling its capacity by investing in 500 megawatts data centres spread across the United States, Canada and some countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Apart from doubling its second pre-IPO funding target, the company also announced changes to its management structure with a new CEO in Jason Conroy, the chief financial officer at TransGrid — one of the largest energy utility companies in Australia.

Iris is only the latest in a growing list of Bitcoin mining firms pursuing public listings on the back of the current bull market for the largest crypto by market capitalization.

In February, reports emerged that major European Bitcoin mining outfit Northern Data was mulling a $500 million IPO with backing from Swiss investment giant Credit Suisse.

The Swiss Investment firm was also temporarily involved with the Canaan Creative IPO back in 2019.

Following the resolution of the leadership tussle at Bitmain, the crypto mining giant is believed to be getting set for another attempt at a public listing following the 2018 failed attempt.

Reprinted from Cointelegraph, the copyright all reserved by the original author.