Crusoe Energy Systems, a bitcoin miner, raised $505 million in a Series C round to accelerate the expansion of its mining operations powered by natural gas, which is generally burned as a byproduct of oil extraction.
According to a Thursday announcement, the Denver-based business received $350 million in equity funding from G2 Venture Partners, as well as $155 million in credit facilities from SVB Capital, Sparkfund, and Generate Capital.
Currently, the firm maintains 86 “Digital Flare Mitigation” data centres, which deliver energy demand to sites where excess natural gas is flared, such as oil drilling operations. It intends to grow them both in the United States and globally.
This arrangement has been described as a win-win scenario. In principle, the miners use extra natural gas to reduce methane emissions while making a profit. Crusoe just started a test project in North Dakota with oil and gas major Exxon and is investigating similar projects in Alaska, Nigeria, Argentina, Guyana, and Germany.
Crusoe is the “apparent leader in scale” in the market for flare mitigation and modular data centre technology, according to Ben Kortlang, a partner at G2 Venture Partners. “This finance will allow Crusoe to scale up Digital Flare Mitigation, leverage its solution to drive renewable energy adoption, and continue to innovate its industry-leading technology,” added Kortlang.
According to the company’s website, the funds will be used to speed the launch of CrusoeCloud, a cloud computing platform that leverages “high-performance computing” fueled by stranded energy such as flare gas and limited renewables.
