Avalon Miner Maker Raises Funds in ‘Several Hundred Million Dollars’

Canaan Creative, the maker of Avalon miners and one of the biggest cryptocurrency mining equipment manufacturers in China, has closed a new funding round.

Securities Times, a Chinese financial news publication, reported on Monday that the company has raised “several hundred million U.S. dollars” in a new funding round, which will value the firm at over $1 billion.

When reached out for comment, a spokesperson for Canaan declined to comment on the issue or questions regarding the exact amount or which investors participated in the round.

The news comes months after Canaan’s application for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange failed to advance to a listing hearing and subsequently became invalid. It was reported in January that the firm was planning another IPO application to go public in New York.

The fund raise also followed a continuous decline of the overall cryptocurrency market since the second half of 2018, which has had an impact on crypto mining equipment makers in terms of their product sales.

For instance, Canaan’s two major rivals Bitmain and Ebang both filed for IPOs in September and June 2018 respectively. However, in a renewed filing at the end of December, Ebang disclosed that it experienced “significant decreases in revenue and gross profit” for Q3 2018.

Similarly, Bitmain also posted about $500 million loss in an updated financial record filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as part of its IPO application. If Bitmain does not graduate to a listing hearing by March 26, six months from the initial filing, its IPO application will lapse.

Avalon miner image via CoinDesk archive