UK AI firm Nscale raises £1.6 billion in Nvidia-backed funding round

TL;DR: British AI infrastructure company Nscale has raised £1.6 billion ($2 billion) in a Series C round, valuing the firm at £11.7 billion ($14.6 billion). The company, which owns and operates its own data centres and GPU stack, is preparing for a potential IPO.

Nscale’s latest funding round was led by Norway’s Aker and 8090 Industries, with participation from Nvidia, Citadel, Dell, and Jane Street among others. The raise makes it one of the largest funding rounds for a UK AI company.

High-profile board additions

Former Meta executives Nick Clegg and Sheryl Sandberg will join Nscale’s board, alongside former Yahoo president Susan Decker. Clegg, who previously served as Meta’s president of global affairs and as UK deputy prime minister, brings both political and technology governance experience.

IPO preparations

The funding round comes as Nscale prepares for an initial public offering. The company has hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan as underwriters, though no timeline has been set for a listing. A successful IPO would make Nscale one of the most prominent UK-founded AI companies to go public.

Building AI infrastructure

Founded in 2024, Nscale owns and operates its own data centres, GPUs, and software stack to deliver large-scale AI compute. The new funding will expand its data centre capacity to meet demand from customers including Microsoft and OpenAI.

Looking forward

Nscale’s rapid growth from founding to a £11.7 billion valuation in under two years reflects the intense demand for AI compute infrastructure. With an IPO on the horizon and major tech firms among its customers, the company is positioned as a test case for whether the UK can build and retain large-scale AI businesses rather than watching them relocate to the US.