Arkon Energy Secures $110M Funding to Expand Bitcoin Mining in the US and Launch AI Cloud Services in Norway

Arkon Energy, a rapidly growing data center infrastructure company, secured $110 million in a private funding round to expand its operations, CEO Josh Payne announced exclusively. This funding round was led by Bluesky Capital Management, with contributions from Kestrel 0x1 and Nural Capital.

Founded in 2021, Arkon Energy began with a 5-megawatt data center in Australia and has since scaled to over 130 megawatts, extending its reach into markets in the U.S. and Europe. “Our facilities cater to both bitcoin miners and clients in AI and machine learning, who have substantial high-power computing needs,” Payne explained. To put this in perspective, one megawatt can supply electricity to between 400 to 900 homes annually, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Approximately $80 million of the new funding will be allocated to acquiring an additional 200 megawatts of capacity across new data centers in Ohio, North Carolina, and Texas, as part of an ambitious strategy to increase the company’s total capacity by 130% by mid-2024. This expansion will complement Arkon’s existing 100-megawatt facility in Ohio, which was acquired in June, Payne added.

“The U.S. presents a highly attractive market for several reasons, including significant domestic demand, a mature energy industry characterized by flexible and deregulated markets, along with political and regulatory stability,” Payne noted. “Additionally, the U.S. has a wealth of stranded, underutilized power generation assets linked to some of the world’s lowest-cost electricity sources, many of which are renewable.”

Arkon’s U.S. data center portfolio primarily serves institutional-level bitcoin mining companies. Payne stated, “Essentially, we function as landlords who own the foundational infrastructure assets.”

Arkon’s unique business model is focused on acquiring strategically distressed data center assets around the world. “The current and future demand for data center capacity—particularly in the U.S.—is exceptional and unprecedented. Our clients operate energy-intensive platforms that necessitate extensive, professionally managed electrical infrastructure,” he highlighted.

The remaining $30 million from the funding will be invested in developing an artificial intelligence cloud service project at Arkon’s data center in Norway, aimed at servicing the burgeoning generative AI and large language model training markets. “In the past year, we have witnessed a remarkable surge in the demand for generative AI and large learning model applications,” Payne remarked.

However, there remains an undersupply of specialized infrastructure to support the computing and server needs behind these technologies. Arkon is poised to address this gap by delivering the essential infrastructure layer that the AI sector depends on.

Over the past year, the market has experienced a "meteoric rise in AI applications," alongside potential growth for bitcoin in institutional markets, particularly as anticipation builds around a possible spot ETF approval. This positions specialized data centers like Arkon’s to scale exponentially, according to Payne.

This article has been updated to remove a previous mention of Florence Capital as an investor in the funding round.