Bitfury Group, a blockchain technology company, has closed an $80 million private placement with global institutional and corporate investors.

The private placement was led by Korelya Capital, the European growth capital firm backed by Korean firm, NaverGroup. The placement was joined by investors such as Macquarie Capital, Asian financial institution Dentsu Inc, European investment company Armat Group, European fund managers Jabre, Lian Group, special situations investment firm Argenthal Capital Partners, insurance group MACSF and Galaxy Digital, a specialised digital asset merchant bank led by Mike Novogratz. iTech Capital, an Eastern European tech specific private equity firm and historical investor in Bitfury, also took part in the placement.

European technology investment bank Bryan, Garnier & Co advised the company on the private placement.

“2018 has been a year of incredible expansion for Bitfury. This private placement reflects our achievements, and it recognises our ability to address adjacent market segments in high-performance computing, including in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI),” says Valery Vavilov, CEO and co-founder of Bitfury. “The institutionalisation of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, partnered with the opportunity of these emerging technologies, is a natural expansion opportunity that Bitfury will build on  in 2019 and beyond.”

George Kikvadze, executive vice chairman of Bitfury, says the company’s successful private placement was a result of investors’ belief that the company is well positioned to lead the industry into another period of strong growth.

“With a half–billion dollars in revenues, Bitfury is the leading blockchain B2B global technology infrastructure provider at the corporate and government level. This private placement will take our corporate governance to the next level, broaden our financial strategic options, and ideally position us for our next phase of growth as the market matures,” he says.

“We are joining Bitfury as a lead investor at an incredibly exciting time for both the company and the blockchain ecosystem,” comments Antoine Dresch, co-founder and managing partner of Korelya Capital. “Bitfury has grown from a small startup to the largest western blockchain unicorn, equipped with world-class leadership and expertise, consistently delivering innovative solutions across the entire blockchain ecosystem.”

Novogratz, CEO and founder of Galaxy Digital, says: “We are excited to partner with Bitfury, a leading solutions provider in blockchain and Bitcoin. We are impressed with Bitfury’s unparalleled team, as well as the company’s vision, technical expertise and global reach, all of which are essential to advancing the underlying bitcoin ecosystem.”

Bitfury provides computing technologies and processing capabilities, and designs software solutions for governments and corporations to deploy real-life blockchain solutions. In 2018, the company launched its sixth generation of chip design, the Bitfury Clarke ASIC, as well as a new series of computing servers, the Bitfury Tardis.