German Mining Giant Northern Data AG Aims for $16 Billion Valuation with U.S. IPO

Key Takeaways: 

• German Bitcoin miner Northern Data AG plans US IPO for two entities.
• Northern Data AG's IPO valuation is expected at $10-$16 billion.
• The publicly traded company is evaluating advisors and may appoint lead banks soon.

Northern Data AG Aims for Nasdaq Debut in 2025

German mining giant Northern Data AG is exploring a U.S. IPO for its AI cloud computing firm, Tiagra, and data center, Ardent, according to Bloomberg. The German Bitcoin miner is in talks with potential advisers to discuss the possibility of taking these subsidiaries public.

An IPO occurs when a privately-owned company lists its shares on a stock exchange, making them publicly available for purchase.

The mining company aims to list both entities on the Nasdaq as early as the first half of 2025, according to the report.

Northern Data AG has initiated the process of selecting advisors for its impending IPO. The company is expected to appoint leading investment banks within the next few months, which will spearhead the underwriting process.

Moreover, the company considers selling a minority stake in its subsidiaries privately before going public. So far, investment banks have valued Tiagra and Ardent between $10 billion and $16 billion, reflecting confidence in their growth potential.

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It's worth noting that Northern Data AG is already a publicly traded company in Germany, listed on Xetra, a Frankfurt Stock Exchange-approved trading venue. The company's stock price is up by 20.6% and currently trades at €30.15.

In its latest financial report, Northern Data AG's mining unit reported mining 2,298 BTC in 2023, an 18% decrease from the previous year. Despite this decline, the company generated over €59.7 million ($64 million) in BTC revenue last year.

Bitcoin Miners Pivot to AI as Industry Evolves

Northern Data AG’s IPO preparations for Tiagra and Ardent come as cloud computing firms involved in AI are attracting substantial investment.

The increasing costs and decreasing rewards of Bitcoin mining have prompted the German miner and several firms in the industry to pivot towards AI. 

Last week, U.S. Bitcoin mining firm Core Scientific announced an expanded partnership deal with CoreWeave, a Nvidia-backed startup that provides technology for running AI models. 

Today, we announced a new contract with @CoreWeave for the delivery of ~70 MW of additional infrastructure to host #HPC operations.

Read the full press release here: https://t.co/FqHqy6g7Yz pic.twitter.com/SOhCxqNKyM

— Core Scientific (@Core_Scientific) June 25, 2024

The new agreement details that Core Scientific will modify 100 MW of its infrastructure to deliver approximately 70 MW to seamlessly power CoreWeave’s NVIDIA GPUs for high-performance computing (HPC) operations. 

Similarly, two Bitcoin mining firms have made fresh AI moves. Hut 8 recently raised $150 million in debt from private equity firm Coatue to expand its AI data center portfolio, while Bit Digital disclosed an agreement to supply 2,048 Nvidia GPUs over three years. 

We are incredibly excited to announce a $150 million strategic investment from @coatuemgmt to partner in building a next generation AI infrastructure platform. This investment will accelerate growth in our data center portfolio and provides access to Coatue's extensive network of… pic.twitter.com/BYvpHx50PS

— Hut 8 (@Hut8Corp) June 24, 2024

The influx of investments in AI cloud computing makes Northern Data AG's strategic pivot timely. The mining company aims to tap into new revenue streams and leverage the booming AI market through company shares.  

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