A Cincinnati company founded by a Miami University alum is vetting plans to go public with a valuation that could top more than $3 billion, per Bloomberg.
Griid Infrastructure, a bitcoin mining upstart, is negotiating with blank-check firm Adit EdTech Acquisition Corp. about a possible SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, merger. The deal, which is not finalized, would value Griid at more than $3 billion, Bloomberg reported last week, citing anonymous sources.
Both Adit EdTech, which is based in New York, and Griid officials declined comment. Griid follows a long list of local companies that have either gone public or announced plans to do so this year:
- Phillips Edison, a commercial real estate investment firm, completed a $425 million initial public stock offering, or IPO, in July
- Hillman Group, which distributes hardware products and tools, was acquired by a SPAC that same month.
- Paycor followed with a $426 million IPO.
- And in late September and early October, Ensemble Health Partners, which helps health care companies identify, manage and collect revenue, and vaccine developer Blue Water Vaccines, each filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission to complete IPOs of their own.
Griid's news comes days after announced it secured a $525 million, four-year credit facility, or type of loan, from Blockchain.com, a cryptocurrency platform, to bring on additional mining capacity.
The company, which procures cheap, carbon-free energy to manage, build and operate U.S.-based bitcoin mining facilities, has more than 1,300 megawatts of available power from existing energy generation partners,. The company said it has one of the largest and lowest-cost power pipelines in the industry.
“For the past two years we’ve worked closely with Griid to not just provide capital, but to be a partner invested in the growth of the business,” Peter Smith, Blockchain.com CEO, said in a release. “It’s incredible to see their trajectory, and we are confident that Griid is well positioned to become a dominant U.S. based bitcoin miner.”
Griid was founded in 2018 by CEO Trey Kelly, a Cincinnati resident and 2010 Miami University alum.
Prior to founding Griid, Kelly co-founded Stampt, a mobile loyalty card startup acquired by Arizona-based Mobivity in 2012; and was an early employee at OpenDNS, an internet security startup acquired by Cisco Systems in 2015.
