Swedish Bitcoin mining outfit KnCMiner has announced closure of a US$15million series B funding round led by Accel Partners, as well as existing and private investors.
In a press release issued today, the company, which has seen its fortunes maintained through 2014, indicated that the cash will primarily be used to further its capabilities within the mining market. The company stated:
“KnCMiner plans to use the new capital, in addition to cash generated through operations, to increase its bitcoin mining capacity and continue to build the bitcoin-processing infrastructure of the future.”
The investment news comes off the back of a successful few quarters for KnC, which announced a US$14million series A round just five months ago in September. This was led by Nordic-based venture capital firm Creandum with input from investment bank GP Bullhound, both of which also participated in the most recent funding round.
“We are excited to back the KnCMiner team, as they have proven to be world class operators in a very dynamic marketplace,” Accel Partners CEO Michiel Kotting, who will also be joining KnC’s board, commented in today’s release. “We strongly believe in the long-term potential of Bitcoin technology and see large scale miners like KnCMiner playing a crucial role.”
KnC has remained largely free from the raft of scandals and investigations associated with many of its competitors in recent months. Initial delays in delivering its innovative Bitcoin mining hardware were soon alleviated, and the launch of its KnC Cloud cloudmining operation saw the company’s fortunes improve.
Co-founder and CEO Sam Cole added:
“We have invested more than US$70M over the last 12 months into building a world-class bitcoin mining operation and plan to invest a further US$150M over the next 18 months as we become one of the key transaction processors within Bitcoin.”
Also unveiled this week are technological advances in the form of a 16nm chip, described by KnC as “one of the very first 16nm chips in any segment to enter full production phase.” The chip is being produced by TSMC in cooperation with its partner Alchip. KnC meanwhile is already trialing 20nm chips, having become the first mining operator in the world to deliver the technology.
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