W&F December 2017

Wealth & Finance International - December 2017 5 BitGo Technology powers $8b in transactions per month as institutional sector embraces digital currency. On the 11th December, BitGo announced the close of its $42.5 million Series B financing, d by Valor Equity Partners with participation from David Sacks, Bill Lee, and DRW. The funding will be used to accelerate the momentum of its technology among institutional investors. The company, which already powers $8 billion in digital transactions per month, has become an indispensable finan- cial services partner to institutions worldwide. A growing customer base, including CME Group and The Royal Mint, leverage BitGo’s technology to add digital currencies to their global product mix. “We’ve crossed the tipping point for Bitcoin and other digital currencies, which have transitioned from experi- ments to front page news. BitGo gives institutions and custodians a solid technology base to offer new digital investment opportunities, products and services,” said Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo. “We have been the go-to service for exchanges, hedge-funds, trusts, and businesses for years, now we are expanding our secure and compliant technology to build out an advanced financial ecosystem for investors to work with to make buying, storing, and trading digital assets as easy as possible.” “BitGo is changing the way that digital currency is secured. Institutions can now confidently trust in the security of their digital assets thanks to BitGo, as can their custodial partners,” said Antonio Gracias, Founder and Chief Investment at Valor Equity Partners. “We’re thrilled to be a part of a com- pany that is changing the way that financial services organizations view digital currency.” Individuals and funds participating in BitGo’s Series B have invested in every stage of companies that funda- mentally changed industries, including AirBnB, Facebook, SpaceX and Tesla. Antonio Gracias, Founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of Valor Equity Partners and board member at Tesla and SpaceX will join BitGo’s board of directors. David Sacks, Founder/CEO of Yammer and original COO and product leader of PayPal, also joins the board. “BitGo has a long history of working with large institutions that need the highest-grade security, compliance, cold storage, multi-key management, and more,” said Bill Lee, Chairman of the Board at BitGo. “We are thrilled to bring on top notch executives and the expertise of investment legends like Don Wilson at DRW to aggressively expand on BitGo’s leading position with institutional investors.” BitGo’s technology is a catalyst that allows custodial institutions to extend new offerings to Wall Street and Main Street, and the company has already realized success with several custodi- al partners. One example is Kingdom Trust, a custodian who services US clients and holds custody of over $12 billion in assets. As a federally approved custodian according to IRS Code Title 26 Sec. 408, Kingdom Trust can offer Bitcoin IRA and allow retirement investors to build positions in cryptocurrencies just as they do in alternative assets like real estate or precious metals. “Being custodian for the assets of clients of registered investment advi- sors, broker-dealers and investment sponsors comes with great responsi- bility in an ever-changing regulatory environment,” said Matt Jennings, CEO at Kingdom Trust. “BitGo allows us to bring digital currency - a go-to investment for many investors - along- side stocks, bonds and mutual funds in our retirement offerings with the same security and trust that we ex- pect from institutional-grade partners.” Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC acquires six operating solar facilities, comprising 10 megawatts of generating capacity, in California and Colorado. Full of Potential On the 12th December, Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC an- nounced that, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, it signed an agreement on the 6th December 2017 to purchase a portfolio of North American solar assets from UK based, Foresight Group (“Foresight Portfolio”) for approximately $13,000,000, including the repayment of $5 million in project level debt. The Foresight Portfo- lio consists of six operating solar photovoltaic systems comprising 10.0 MW located in Colorado (consisting of the Grand Junction – Mesa, Sterling 2 MW and Sterling 500 kW facilities) and California (consisting of Lancas- ter - Radiance 4 and Radiance 5, and Jamestown – Sonora. The Foresight Portfolio was represented by Cohn Reznick Capital Markets Securities LLC, an investment banking advisor, on behalf of the current owner Foresight Group US, LLC, a leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager with over $3 billion in asset under management. The projects were placed in service throughout 2013 and 2014 and sell power or renewable energy credits to PG&E, Xcel, SCE and/or various Colorado based governmental agen- cies through 20-year power purchase agreements with an average of 17 years currently remaining across all locations. “With the Foresight Portfolio, we have added six commercial solar assets with investment-grade utility and gov- ernmental agency off-takers, further diversifying the Company’s portfolio,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of Green- backer. “Market conditions in the renewable energy market continue to be robust and we are pleased to be able to execute on great transactions while simultaneously expanding our pipeline of potential alternative energy deals which meet the Company’s investment criteria.” With the addition of these solar assets, the Company now owns ap- proximately 168.9 MW of generating capacity comprising 45.5 MW of Wind facilities and 123.4 MW of commercial and residential solar facilities. News