KPMG is reviewing the accuracy of its regular reports on venture capital funding after the company behind the biggest deal in Scotland this summer was temporarily removed from the database following enquiries by Daily Business.
DL Mining, a global cloud mining service platform headquartered in Stirling, raised £67.5 million ($90m), the largest in Scotland during the July-September period, according to a press release issued in August. This led to its inclusion in KPMG’s latest Venture Pulse report.
The report, including the DL Mining deal, was published widely in other Scottish media, which hailed it as a sign of Scotland’s investment success.
While there is nothing to suggest this Series B funding was not raised, DL Mining has failed to verify details on the “legitimacy” of the deal.
As a result, it has been removed temporarily from the database of the research company used by KPMG to produce the Venture Pulse report, pending further investigation.
Daily Business based its enquiries only on wanting to know more about DL Mining and who is behind it. There was no suggestion of wrongdoing. Our interest was based on a lack of information and access.
The deal itself received no attention from the UK press, which was unusual. Two overseas news media, both Canadian, carried reports based on the press release issued by the company which referred to the source of funding as “multiple investment institutions”. None of the institutions was disclosed. The reports also provided a quote from an unnamed DL Mining CEO, again unusual.
Various other news items about DL Mining, including one by Reuters, refer to it as a global company based in Stirling, with six million users worldwide.
DL Mining states on its website that it is registered as DL Management Solutions.
That company is based at 34 Glasgow Road, Stirling, which is listed by an estate agency as a residential property. It appears most of its operations are virtual and in worldwide locations.
It filed total exemption accounts at Companies House for the year to the end of March 2024 which show the only directors are David and Lynne Gray. There was one employee and in 2023 it had no employees. It had cash reserves of £208,069.
DL Mining posts regularly on X and Facebook, and these accounts are listed as being in London.
Daily Business sent a message to the source of the press release and tracked down an email address to someone said to be handling communications for the company. Neither responded.
KPMG employs a research company called Pitchbook to gather the Venture Pulse data and following our requests for information it undertook enquiries of its own which revealed that it had failed to get DL Mining to clarify details of the funding deal.
In a statement, it said: “The financing announced by DL Mining initially met our inclusion criteria based on details in the company’s press release and supporting information on its website.
“At the time, we had no grounds to disprove the transaction. While we understood that the nature of crypto platforms – often decentralised, with operations conducted through third parties or remunerated via digital assets – can make verification more complex, we take any questions around data accuracy seriously.
“Following inquiries about the legitimacy of the financing, we reached out to DL Mining directly for additional details. As the company did not provide further clarification, we have temporarily removed its profile from our platform pending further verification.”
A spokesperson for KPMG UK, said: “Pitchbook’s data forms the basis of KPMG’s Venture Pulse reports and we take its accuracy seriously. We’re now working with Pitchbook to review the report production process to ensure all future deals are fully verified.”
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