Gridless, a Kenyan Bitcoin Mining Company, Raises $2M in Funding Led by Jack Dorsey

Gridless designs, builds, and operates bitcoin mining sites alongside small-scale renewable energy producers in rural Africa. In its first year, Gridless has contracted five project pilots in rural Kenya with HydroBox, an African hydro-electric energy company, three of which are currently operational.

CryptoGuru··4 min read

Gridless, a bitcoin mining company helping to bring new energy generation to rural communities in Kenya, has announced at the Africa Bitcoin Conference 2022 in Accra, Ghana, that it secured a $2 million seed investment round led by Stillmark and Block, Inc. in addition to an angel round led by Factor[e].

The investment will support the company’s further expansion of bitcoin mines across African markets. 

“Africa needs affordable electricity,” said Erik Hersman, CEO of Gridless. “Our work in supporting renewable energy mini grid developers fills a gap, helping developers expand faster, be more sustainable, and serve thousands of households. This investment, and the high caliber of partners that are coming alongside us, means that we can accelerate our rollout knowing that we have both the capital and strategic support required.” 

Gridless designs, builds, and operates bitcoin mining sites alongside small-scale renewable energy producers in rural Africa where excess energy is not utilized.

Gridless serves as the anchor tenant, financing the construction and managing the operation of data centers in rural communities where traditional industrial or commercial customers are not available. In its first year, Gridless has contracted five project pilots in rural Kenya with HydroBox, an African hydro-electric energy company, three of which are currently operational. The company plans to expand to other geographies in East Africa in the near future. 

“Stillmark is focused on investing in companies that are helping to advance the Bitcoin ecosystem in ways that offer sustainable value and solutions to many,” says Alyse Killeen, Managing Partner at Stillmark. “Gridless does this by bringing a socially and environmentally conscious approach to bitcoin mining, one that provides tangible benefits by way of access to electricity for communities in rural parts of East Africa. The Gridless leadership team is comprised of veteran entrepreneurs in the technology space with substantial roots in the region. They are well-respected amongst their colleagues and peers, and we are excited about the opportunity to further support their efforts.

Block is keenly focused on helping to accelerate global renewable hashrate. Gridless represents a close strategic alignment with our vision of ensuring the bitcoin network increasingly leverages clean energy, in combination with bitcoin computational centers around the world,” said Thomas Templeton, Lead for bitcoin mining and wallet at Block. “This work can support positive community externalities while also helping to secure the distributed infrastructure behind bitcoin’s monetary ecosystem.”

In 2020, more than 50% of people across Africa were without electricity. There is immense demand for reliable, clean, and affordable energy, yet mini-grid energy generators struggle for sustainability.

Gridless believes bitcoin mining can play a pivotal role as a buyer of first and last resort in creating more sustainable energy production and increasing electrification for local communities in the region. The electricity generated from these sites is prioritized for community electrification and to support community uplift business such as containerized cold storage for local farmers, battery charging stations for electric motorcycles, and public WiFi points. After those needs are met, the remaining electricity capacity is used to power the bitcoin computational mining datacenter.

Data centers are dynamic offtakers and can easily reduce capacity to adjust to the needs of the community, and depending upon the type and availability of the energy can use new and efficient, or older less efficient, bitcoin mining machines. 

“While bitcoin mining has been dominant in North America, Europe and Asia, Africa presents a great opportunity to further diversify mining across the globe, helping to better secure the network,” added Hersman. “Renewable energy is abundant on the continent. This presents excellent potential for profits for both energy generators and miners as well as the ability to deliver real positive impact on the communities where it is put to use.” 

 

About Gridless 

Gridless exists to serve the needs of energy producers in Africa as they seek to electrify the continent and create more affordable power for people in rural communities. Created in 2022 by veterans of the connectivity, infrastructure and software space in East Africa, the Gridless team uses bitcoin mining as a tool to accelerate growth in the sector and to further geographically distribute and secure the bitcoin network. To learn more, visit www.gridlesscompute.com. 

 

See also

About Stillmark 

Founded in 2019 as the first Bitcoin technology-focused venture capital firm, Stillmark invests in founders whose technologies, products and services are accelerating the growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Based in Los Angeles, California, the firm invests at the Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A stage partnering with intrepid founders who are helping to expand the use and utility of bitcoin, the Bitcoin blockchain and the Lightning Network. To learn more, visit www.stillmark.com. 

 

About Block 

Block (NYSE: SQ) is a global technology company with a focus on financial services. Made up of Square, Cash App, Spiral, TIDAL, and TBD54566975, we build tools to help more people access the economy. Square helps sellers run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions, business software, and banking services. With Cash App, anyone can easily send, spend, or invest their money in stocks or Bitcoin. Spiral (formerly Square Crypto) builds and funds free, open-source Bitcoin projects. Artists use TIDAL to help them succeed as entrepreneurs and connect more deeply with fans.

TBD54566975 is building an open developer platform to make it easier to access Bitcoin and other blockchain technologies without having to go through an institution.

 

 

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