Nvidia-backed infrastructure company Nscale reached $14.6 billion valuation.
UK-based AI infrastructure startup Nscale has raised $2 billion in Series C funding – the largest single equity raise in Europe's history – propelling the Nvidia-backed company to a $14.6 billion valuation as demand for AI compute infrastructure surges globally. The neocloud company emerged in 2024 following a spinout from crypto-mining infrastructure firm Arkon Energy and has grown rapidly, having previously secured a $1.1 billion Series B round backed by Nvidia, Aker, Nokia, and Dell. The latest round is backed by Nvidia again, along with Lenovo, Astra Capital Management, Citadel, Dell, Jane Street, and Nokia – led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries.
"This is the fourth industrial revolution; the world is changing at a rapid pace," Josh Payne, Nscale's founder and CEO, said in a statement. "Over the next 5 years, artificial intelligence will be integrated into every industry, every product, and every job… This is leading to the largest infrastructure buildout in human history." New capital will help Nscale advance the development of vertically integrated AI infrastructure – from GPU compute and networking to data services and software – throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
Nscale has established itself as a key AI infrastructure partner through several strategic deployments. Last year, it was a key partner in OpenAI and Nvidia's massive $15 billion UK-based effort to deploy 300,000 GPUs in new data centers around the world. In December, Nscale announced it would invest $865 million for a 10-year colocation agreement with a planned data center in Madison, N.C. – part of the company's effort to add "hundreds of megawatts of new capacity" to its North American presence. In October, Nscale announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft that secured a reported $14 billion. Over the summer, the company partnered with OpenAI to launch a Stargate-branded AI center in Norway. The company currently operates data centers in the US, UK, Norway, Portugal, and Iceland.
"This funding allows us to accelerate our 'ground to cloud' platform across Europe, the US, and Asia," Philippe Sachs, Nscale's chief business officer, wrote in a LinkedIn post. "Our model is proving that when you integrate the full stack, you can move faster, operate smarter, and deliver resilience the world over." The company joins a growing new school of AI infrastructure providers, competing with firms like CoreWeave and Crusoe to build GPU-heavy compute capacity outside the hyperscalers. According to Matt Kimball, vice president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, "That $2 billion is going right back into facilities and buying more systems," reflecting the capital-intensive nature of the neocloud business. The surge in funding reflects a broader shift in the AI infrastructure market as companies race to secure scarce GPU capacity, with startups including Nscale, CoreWeave, and Crusoe Energy betting that specialized infrastructure and vertically integrated stacks can deliver faster access to AI compute under a GPU-as-a-Service model.