Layer1, the U.S. bitcoin mining startup backed by high-profile buyers, has misdescribed the function of a supposed core group member in a latest pi
Layer1, the U.S. bitcoin mining startup backed by high-profile buyers, has misdescribed the function of a supposed core group member in a latest pitch deck, based on that group member.
The complete deck – which was shared with CoinDesk by an investor who obtained it from Layer1 round June – exhibits a administration group slide during which Layer1 instructed potential buyers that Liu Xiangfu, co-founder and a former director of Chinese language bitcoin miner maker Canaan, is its Head of Provide Chain.
Additional, within the fairness construction slide, the deck described Liu as a founding member of the agency with an possession stake.
Nonetheless, when reached for remark, Liu mentioned he’s not concerned in Layer1’s enterprise. “I launched a few of my mates to them. … That did assist them once they [came] to China. However I’m not a shareholder [and do] not work for them,” Liu mentioned through WeChat messages.
The discrepancy got here to mild as Layer1, which has been backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and CoinDesk’s guardian firm Digital Foreign money Group, has been working to boost $50 million in senior secured money owed since June, based on a separate time period sheet seen by CoinDesk and confirmed by Layer1.
The U.S. startup boasts a mission of not simply constructing top-notch bitcoin mining services but in addition launching the uss first proprietary mining chips to compete with Chinese language miner makers.
Though the pitch deck doesn’t specify a date, it features a roadmap that implies the deck is latest as of June of this 12 months. In line with the roadmap, Layer1’s Step 4 – a 25 megawatt-hour (mWh) bitcoin mining farm at its Texas website – was up and working as of June, as featured in a Forbes article in late Might.
Responding to CoinDesk’s questions concerning the timeline of the pitch deck, Layer1’s Sequence A fairness financing and Liu’s characterization of his function, Layer1’s co-founder and CEO Alexander Liegl mentioned on Aug 20:
“I can affirm that the knowledge you’ve obtained is appropriate, nonetheless there’s a disconnect as regards to Liu Xiangfu’s involvement with Layer1. Xiangfu has been a great buddy, and supportive of the corporate for the reason that very starting. It ought to be no shock to anybody who follows our enterprise to see Xiangfu’s identify linked with Layer1.”
As well as, the administration group slide additionally claims Layer1’s chief expertise officer, Ivan Kirillov, was a former lead engineer for 4 years at cloud mining agency Genesis Mining.
Nonetheless, Marco Sheng, founder and CEO of Genesis Mining, instructed CoinDesk that Kirillov was not a lead engineer at Genesis Mining. “He [Ivan] labored along with our engineering group as an exterior [contractor]. He was not employed by Genesis Mining,” Sheng mentioned.
$50 million Sequence A
Additionally notable on this latest pitch deck is it says Layer1 was nonetheless elevating $50 million in Sequence A financing, which will probably be used to scale its working mining capability in West Texas to 150 mWh and to ship its proprietary mining chips in mass manufacturing.
CoinDesk reported on Oct. 15, 2019, that Layer1 raised $30 million within the Sequence A spherical and had not but reached its $50 million goal.
Layer1’s personal weblog submit revealed on the identical date didn’t point out how a lot it really raised on the time and solely mentioned it had notable buyers like Thiel and Shasta Ventures, at a valuation of $200 million.
However it seems solely a comparatively small a part of the raised fund got here from exterior buyers on the time, because the latest pitch deck exhibits that “Layer1 founders have contributed over $23 million of [their] personal capital thus far to this Sequence A financing.”
Nonetheless, a number of enterprise retailers, together with Fortune and the Wall Road Journal, reported on Oct. 15 that Layer1 introduced it raised $50 million within the Sequence A spherical. Forbes reported the identical just a few days later.
Liegl confirmed in a follow-up electronic mail response on Aug. 21 that Layer1 had not been elevating a second spherical of Sequence A in latest months, however was making an attempt to finish the earlier spherical.
Learn extra: Peter Thiel Backs $200 Million Valuation for Renewable Bitcoin Mining within the US
In a personal Zoom name in April, Layer1 was providing shares price $41 million to buyers on the BnkToTheFuture crowdfunding platform, based on a dwell stream of the decision.
In reality, Layer1’s profile web page on BnkToTheFuture additionally exhibits it listed Liu as a group member accountable for provide chain when pitching to buyers.
Jakov Dolic, Layer1’s then-president, who was additionally on the April name, described Liu’s function as “a group member and a buddy.” Dolic left the agency in latest months however stays a shareholder.
When requested in the course of the name, Liegl instructed buyers on BnkToTheFuture the providing was the identical spherical because the earlier Sequence A financing with the identical phrases.
Knowledge from BnkToTheFuture exhibits Layer1 collected $41 million on the crowdfunding platform. And Liegl mentioned within the Aug 21 response that Layer1’s $50 million Sequence A is now full.
Proprietary chips?
Considered one of Layer1’s…