
Accel leads $15m KnCMiner series-B
Accel Partners has led a $15m series-B funding round for Swedish bitcoin-mining company KnCMiner, alongside existing investors Creandum and GP Bullhound.
The round also saw participation from private investor Martin Wattin, and comes at a time when KnCMiner is facing lawsuits from disgruntled clients.
A number of customers are claiming refunds and have filed lawsuits against KnCMiner in the Swedish courts, claiming the company sent faulty products and delayed shipment.
Another suit claims the company took customers' money and used it to develop KnCMiner's own datacentre, which would compete with clients.
Accel's Michiel Kotting told the Wall Street Journal the VC had looked into the disputes and had found no improprieties, and said the management was taking care of the matter in the right way.
Combined with the company's own cash, the fresh capital will help grow KnCMiner's mining capacity and improve its bitcoin-processing infrastructure.
Previous funding
The new round of funding brings the total raised by KnCMiner to $29m, having landed $14m in a series-A led by Creandum and GP Bullhound last year.
Company
KnCMiner designs microchips and software aimed at cryptocurrency mining hardware, cloud services and mobile apps.
Since February 2014, the company has been mining bitcoins directly, in addition to designing application-specific integrated circuit chips for cryptocurrency mining operations.
KnCMiner also develops cloud services for mining operations and cryptocurrency transaction database-based applications.
According to public information, the company had revenues of SEK 191m in 2014, with a pre-tax profit of SEK 71m.
The Stockholm-based company claims revenues totalling $100m since it was founded in April 2013, as a joint venture between ORSoC and Kennemar & Cole.
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