Nscale, the Nvidia-backed British AI infrastructure company, just closed what it calls the largest Series C in European history: a $2 billion round that pushes its valuation to $14.6 billion, TechCrunch AI reports. The raise catapults Nscale into Europe’s exclusive decacorn club alongside Helsing and Mistral AI.
And the company isn’t just collecting checks. It’s collecting power players: former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, former Yahoo president Susan Decker, and former U.K. deputy prime minister Nick Clegg are all joining the board.
💰 The Money
The $2 billion figure comes with a caveat: it includes a $433 million pre-Series C SAFE from October, backed by Blue Owl, Dell, Nvidia, and Nokia. The Series C itself was co-led by Norwegian energy conglomerate Aker and New York-based 8090 Industries, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan supporting the raise.
That Goldman and JPMorgan involvement isn’t decorative. According to TechCrunch AI, Nscale CEO Josh Payne told The New York Times his company might seek to go public “as early as this year.” The banking relationships look like IPO groundwork.
Other participants in the round include:
- Dell and Nvidia (both returning investors)
- Citadel and Jane Street
- Lenovo and Nokia
- Point72 and Astra Capital
- Linden Advisors
On top of equity, Nscale also raised a $1.4 billion delayed draw term loan last month, backed by GPUs, to finance cluster buildouts across Europe.
🏗️ Stargate Norway and the Infrastructure Play
Nscale’s bet is vertical integration: owning the stack from energy and data centers all the way up to compute orchestration software. The centerpiece is “Stargate Norway,” a joint venture with Aker that will now be fully managed by Nscale. The project aims to run on 100,000 Nvidia GPUs by the end of 2026, with OpenAI as an initial customer.
Aker president and CEO Øyvind Eriksen said the consolidation “strengthens execution by putting delivery and governance under one roof.”
Last October, Nscale also signed an expanded deal with Microsoft to bring roughly 200,000 Nvidia GPUs to three European data centers and one in the U.S., in collaboration with Dell.
🔍 Why This Matters
What stands out here is the speed. Nscale announced a $1.1 billion Series B just six months ago. Now it’s raised another $2 billion in equity plus $1.4 billion in debt. That’s $4.5 billion in capital in under a year.
This reflects a broader truth: AI compute demand is outpacing supply, and the companies building physical infrastructure are attracting enormous capital. Nscale is positioning itself as Europe’s answer to the U.S.-dominated hyperscaler landscape, leaning on renewable energy and regional data center investment as differentiators.
The board additions reinforce the IPO thesis. Sandberg, Decker, and Clegg bring public company governance experience and political connections: exactly the kind of credibility a pre-IPO company wants.
Nscale plans to use the funding to expand AI infrastructure across Europe, North America, and Asia, grow its engineering and operations teams, and strengthen its platform. The company has also pledged to reuse waste heat, develop local skills, and invest in regional infrastructure.
For the full details on the raise and Nscale’s plans, check the original report at TechCrunch AI.