Arkon Energy, a data center infrastructure company, has recently closed a $110 million private funding round in order to expand its operations. The company’s CEO, Josh Payne, shared this exclusive news with TechCrunch. The funding round was led by Bluesky Capital Management and also included participation from Kestrel 0x1, Nural Capital, and Florence Capital.
Founded in 2021, Arkon Energy initially began with a 5-megawatt site in Australia. Since then, the company has experienced significant growth, expanding to over 130 megawatts and venturing into other countries and regions, such as the U.S. and Europe.
According to Payne, these sites cater to both bitcoin miners and AI/machine learning clients with high-power computing demands. For perspective, 1 megawatt can power between 400 to 900 homes a year, as documented by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
A substantial portion of the funding, approximately $80 million, will be allocated towards acquiring an additional 200-megawatt capacity across new data centers in Ohio, North Carolina, and Texas. This move is part of Arkon’s strategy to increase its total megawatts by 130% by mid-2024, in addition to its existing 100-megawatt facility in Ohio, which was purchased in June.
Payne emphasized the appeal of the U.S. market, citing factors such as domestic customer demand, a robust energy industry, political and regulatory stability, and attractiveness to institutional investors. He also highlighted the abundance of underutilized power generation assets that are connected to some of the lowest-cost electricity sources in the world, many of which are renewable.
Arkon’s U.S. data center portfolio mainly serves institutional-grade bitcoin mining companies, with Payne describing the company as essentially a landlord owning the underlying infrastructure assets.
The company’s Business model focuses on strategically acquiring distressed data center assets across the globe to meet the unprecedented and monumental demand for data center capacity, particularly in the U.S.
A remaining $30 million of the funding will be used to develop an artificial intelligence cloud service project at Arkon’s data center in Norway. This project aims to service the generative AI and large language model training markets, which have experienced significant market acceleration in demand over the past year.
Overall, there has been a surge in AI applications and potential growth and adoption for bitcoin in mainstream institutional markets, positioning specialized data centers like Arkon’s for exponential scalability.
Furthermore, it is important to note that data centers play a crucial role in supporting the ever-growing demands of Technology-driven industries, bolstering the development and deployment of cutting-edge technologies worldwide. Arkon Energy’s expansion and strategic investments in this space are indicative of the increasing significance of data center infrastructure in today’s digital economy.
