One of China’s biggest bitcoin miners and designers of mining chips Bitmain Technologies Ltd. has concluded a Series B round funding. This is the stage after optimizing and before the injection of capital, essentially it is the investors aiding the company in broadening market reach. The company now values at almost $12 billion.
Several reports from China have cited a source that requested to remain anonymous, who was well acquainted with the deal. The precise amount of recent equity financing wasn’t exposed, however, the source estimates the number to be in the vicinity from $300 to $400 million.
Last year Bitmain hit the $50 million mark with its Series A funding round. Sequoia Capital China was one of the main investors then, and this year they also funded the new round along with EDBI, a fund from Singapore that is backed by the government, and Coatue, a U.S. hedge fund.
It has been reported that a pre-initial public offering (IPO) funding round is being held by Bitmain and the and that they are contemplating the prospect of being listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at some point in the near future. If this does indeed occur, then Bitmain will join the other Chinese mining titans that also chose to hold an IPO. It must be noted that the company doesn’t solely live off funding, last year Bitmain had a revenue of $2,5 billion.
The decision to go public is very important for the company, as stated by Jihan Wu, one of the co-founders, and it would allow to even themselves out with the global regulators. Overall this decision would play a significant role in making the crypto situation more safe and transparent.