I really want this endeavor to succeed and I'm pondering whether to invest some serious money. While I have some issues with the business plan, e.g. I am not thrilled by the idea of self mining, there is one thing much more important.

I would like to be reasonably sure that you won't run off with the money, never to be seen again, or perhaps just pretend to produce the chips. Again, I'm not accusing you of being a scammer, but to me you are just a pseudonym posting some text on a forum board.
Is there anybody on this board who knows you and/or have met you in person? I'm afraid your name being known to glbse is not that reassuring.  How can I be sure that your mystery friends even exist? Would you perhaps be willing to arrange a skype conference call to answer questions and show what you're up to? Anything.

Another way would be to arrange it so that GLBSE locks some of the funds in escrow until a later date. I don't know if that's possible.

Perhaps a start would be some evidence that bitfountain actually exists as a registered company.