Romania's Restart Energy raises $30 mln in ICO

Romanian energy provider Restart Energy said it has has raised $30 million (24.4 million euro) in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) which it plans to use to develop a peer-to-peer, fully decentralized energy transfer platform allowing users to send and receive energy worldwide.

The company will use the money to fund its blockchain-powered platform Restart Energy Democracy (RED).

The company has made its first steps towards developing the platform by buying six solar and two hydro power plants in Romania, it told SeeNews in an emailed statement.

In March, Restart energy signed off on the pre-agreement to start the acquisition process for six photovoltaic power stations located in Izvorul Dambovița county, Prundeni, Valcea county, Broșteni, Dambovita county and in Tureni, Cluj county.

The solar parks have a combined production capacity of 47.3 million kWh per year.

The two hydroelectric power-plants will be purchased after due diligence procedures are concluded, from pure-hydro producer Hidroprod. The two plants with a total combined energy production capacity of approximately 22.4 million kWh per year.

This year, the company is focusing on developing its RED supply platform as well as its energy retail franchise.

The company posted revenues of $20 million in 2017 and says it aims for $100 million in revenues this year.

Restart energy is part of Armand Group, controlled by Romanian businessman Armand Domuta and has a customer base of 27,000 household and 3,000 corporate clients.

An ICO is an unregulated means by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture, while blockchain is a digital ledger in which transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency are recorded chronologically and publicly.

($=0.8144 euro)

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