Copyright The Times
Nscale raises $1bn to build AI ‘backbone’
The British data centre developer that has struck deals with Nvidia and Microsoft has raised more than $1 billion as it plots an ambitious rollout of its artificial intelligence infrastructure across Europe and beyond.
The $1.1 billion fundraise by Nscale, which was the largest series B round ever in the UK and Europe, will also be put towards expanding its engineering and operations teams, the company said. The funding round was led by Aker, the investment company of the Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, which injected $285 million in cash and assets, taking a stake of 9.3 per cent.
Sandton Capital, Blue Owl, Dell, Fidelity Investments, G Squared, Nvidia and Point72 also took part, Nscale said.
“We are building the AI-native infrastructure platform of tomorrow,” Josh Payne, Nscale’s chief executive, said, adding: “AI is reshaping industries, economies, and national strategies, but it cannot happen without the physical backbone: the data centres, the GPUs and the software to orchestrate them.”
The 21-month old company, cofounded and run by Payne, a 31-yearold dealmaker, was a major beneficiary from the multibillion dollar AI spending splurge announced during President Trump’s visit to the UK last week.
Microsoft is partnering with NScale in building the new supercomputer, using 23,000 of the most advanced AI chips made by Nvidia, and is acting as a guaranteed customer.
Meanwhile, Nvidia has agreed to invest £500 million in the start-up, with Jensen Huang, the US chipmaker’s cofounder and chief executive, predicting that Nscale could generate cumulative revenues of up to £50 billion over the next six years.
OpenAI plans to build its first European data centre in the Norwegian Arctic city of Narvik, jointly with Nscale and Aker.
But some have questioned whether Nscale, which emerged from “stealth” mode last year and has yet to build a complete data centre, has the experience or capacity to be Silicon Valley’s partner of choice for the Great British build-out.
The latest funding round comes after the company raised $155 million in a series A round last year, led by Sandton Capital Partners, the New York investor, to accelerate its expansion across Europe and North America. It followed a $30 million seed funding raise a year earlier in December 2023.
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