Australian mining company Iris Energy, ahead of a direct listing on Nasdaq, plans to raise $200 million from investors. Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
According to a person familiar with the matter, the Sydney-based company is working with a consultant on the financing round and has already met with several potential investors. The raised funds will go toward listing costs, which are planned for 2021.<\/p>\n
In May, it was reported<\/a> that Iris Energy was considering a SPAC<\/span> deal. In a reverse merger, the entity was said to be able to raise $300-500 million.<\/p>\n Then co-founder and CEO of the company Daniel Roberts confirmed Iris Energy’s plans to go public. He also noted that the structure is in talks with potential investors to arrange a fundraising round just before listing.<\/p>\n The Bloomberg source noted that the company is currently focused on a direct listing, because a SPAC deal would result in greater dilution of existing investors. According to him, management has not yet made a final decision and may abandon the planned path.<\/p>\n Iris Energy focuses on Bitcoin mining powered by green energy. The company operates a 50 MW data centre in Canada, powered by renewable energy sources, including a hydroelectric plant.<\/p>\n At the end of May, a ‘respected North American institutional investor’ opened Iris Energy a $50 million credit line to purchase mining equipment as part of a strategy to expand operations in Canada. By 2022 the company plans to increase the aggregate hashrate of its sites to 4.5 EH\/s.<\/p>\n \u201cIris Energy has secured additional data centre development sites and new computing hardware which, with further funding, will expand capacity to 180MW (4.5EH\/s) across multiple sites in 2022, making Iris Energy one of the largest #Bitcoin<\/a> miners in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Iris Energy (@irisenergyco) May 31, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n