Bitwise Industries was an American company focused on computer programming instruction, technology sales, and real estate operations. Founded in 2013 by Irma Olguin Jr. and Jake Soberal in

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, the company grew to have campuses in additional cities before furloughing its workforce and terminating the co-CEOs in June 2023. In December 2024, Olguin and Soberal pled guilty to

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

and wire fraud conspiracy, agreed to pay $115 million in restitution to investors, and were sentenced to 9 and 11 years respectively in

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...

History

Early history

Fresno-based lawyer Jake Soberal worked with technology designer and instructor Irma Olguin Jr. to found Geekwise Academy in 2012, a coding boot camp organization focused on serving the underprivileged community. This boot camp grew into Bitwise Industries, officially founded in July 2013, when it purchased an building in downtown Fresno and leased out workspaces to small technology companies. The internal software development team was named Shift3 Technologies. The company continued to grow, eventually purchasing a building, also in downtown Fresno, that had been empty for many years. The building had previously been a car dealership. Bitwise renovated the building to have three floors of office space, a coffee shop and a 160-seat theater and named it Bitwise South Stadium. The building opened in 2015. Bitwise abandonment notice

2019 to 2024; Expansion and eventual liquidation

In June 2019, Bitwise received $27 million in

Series A round A series A is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. It can be followed by the word round, investment or financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in excha ...

funding to create campuses in other cities. Oakland-based Kapor Capital provided the expansion funding. In 2022, the company announced the cities in which it sought to expand, starting with renovating the Old Central Post Office in downtown

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

. It also began renovations in a building at on Buffalo’s East Side and in the Sotoa Building in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. After the expansion, it projected to have operations in ten cities in the US. Cash flow problems and legal issues caused Bitwise to furlough all 900 employees on May 31, 2023. On June 2, 2023, the board of directors terminated co-CEOs Irma Olguin Jr. and Jake Soberal and installed Ollen Douglass as interim president. On June 29, Bitwise entered Chapter 7 liquidation and began winding down all assets. A lawsuit, filed on May 31, 2023, alleged that Bitwise improperly sought out loans and was unauthorized in listing properties for sale. It was filed by a Texas company that financed five Bitwise real estate acquisitions. The city of Fresno alleged that Bitwise has failed to pay taxes for two years. Reports later surfaced that Soberal misrepresented a pending large investment from

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

in exchange for hard money loans. Former employees explored a class-action lawsuit for labor law violations. On November 9, 2023, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California announced federal wire fraud charges against Olguin and Soberal, citing $100 million in fraudulently obtained funds. In July 2024, Olguin and Soberal changed their pleas to guilty of

and wire fraud conspiracy and agreed to pay $115 million in restitution. In December 2024, a judge sentenced Soberal to 11 years in prison and Olguin to 9 years

References

{{reflist, 30em 2013 establishments in California 2023 disestablishments in California Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2023 Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Technology companies based in California Companies based in Fresno, California Technology companies established in 2013 Technology companies disestablished in 2023