Nscale company profile: valuation, funding & revenue

This Nscale company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Nscale works in AI infrastructure, with a focus on data centres and GPU cloud. It was founded in 2024 and is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its latest valuation on record is About US$14.6 billion (post-money) (March 2026). Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.

Revenue

Funding history

Nscale timeline

Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.

• 2024 — Nscale is founded in London by Josh Payne (CEO).
• Sep 2025 — Series B: US$1.1B, valuing the company at About US$3B (reported). Investors: Aker ASA (lead); Nvidia, Nokia, Dell and others.
• Mar 2026 — Series C (including US$433M pre-Series C SAFE): About US$2B, valuing the company at About US$14.6B. Investors: Aker ASA and 8090 Industries (leads); Astra Capital, Citadel, Dell, Jane Street, Lenovo, Linden Advisors, Nokia, Nvidia, Point72.
• March 2026 — Aker's stake: About 23.9% fully diluted after investing US$350 million in cash and rolling in its joint venture stake.

Investors

Overview

Nscale builds and operates data centres for artificial intelligence and rents out the computing power, mainly Nvidia GPUs, to AI developers, enterprises and governments. It describes itself as a vertically integrated "AI hyperscaler": it develops sites, secures power, installs and runs the hardware, and provides the cloud software customers use to train and deploy models. Its biggest projects are in the UK, Norway and Portugal, alongside expansion in the United States.

Josh Payne founded Nscale in 2024; the business grew out of Arkon Energy, a data centre and power company he previously ran. Headquartered in London, Nscale became one of the fastest-growing companies in European tech, raising more than US$3 billion within about 18 months.

Projects

• Stargate UK and Norway: Nscale is a partner in OpenAI's "Stargate" infrastructure programmes in Europe, including a large site in Norway developed with Aker, and capacity in the UK announced during a 2025 US-UK technology partnership.
• Microsoft: Nscale agreed to supply large amounts of GPU capacity to Microsoft across sites in Europe and the US.
• Renewable power: its Nordic sites use hydroelectric power, which is cheap, plentiful and low-carbon, while the cold climate reduces cooling costs.

Business model

Nscale earns revenue from long-term capacity contracts with large customers and from on-demand and reserved cloud computing. Big contracts with creditworthy customers like Microsoft and OpenAI help it raise debt to finance construction and chip purchases. It doesn't publish revenue, so we show it as not disclosed.

Funding

• September 2025, Series B: US$1.1 billion led by Norway's Aker ASA, with Nvidia, Nokia, Dell and others, described as the largest Series B in UK and European history. PitchBook reported that Aker's US$285 million investment for a 9.3% stake implied a valuation of around US$3 billion; the company didn't confirm a figure.
• October 2025: a US$433 million pre-Series C SAFE from Nvidia, Nokia, Dell, Blue Owl and others.
• March 2026, Series C: about US$2 billion including the SAFE, at roughly US$14.6 billion post-money, led by Aker and 8090 Industries, with Astra Capital, Citadel, Dell, Jane Street, Lenovo, Linden Advisors, Nokia, Nvidia and Point72. Aker invested US$350 million in cash and rolled its stake in a joint venture into Nscale, lifting its ownership to about 23.9% fully diluted.

The valuation rose roughly fivefold in six months. Nscale's leadership has said an IPO could follow, with banks reported to be involved. Our guide to SAFEs and convertible notes explains how a SAFE converts into equity at a later round.

Competition

Nscale competes with the US hyperscalers, specialist GPU clouds such as CoreWeave, Crusoe, Lambda and Nebius, and European providers. Its advantages are its European footprint, access to cheap renewable power, partnerships with OpenAI and Microsoft, and appeal to governments that want AI computing located in Europe for sovereignty reasons.

Nscale at a glance

Nscale is a London AI infrastructure company founded in 2024 by Josh Payne. It raised a US$1.1 billion Series B in September 2025 and about US$2 billion in a March 2026 Series C at roughly US$14.6 billion post-money, led by Aker and 8090 Industries, with Nvidia, Nokia, Dell, Citadel and others. It is a partner in OpenAI's Stargate projects in Norway and the UK.

Sovereign AI in Europe

European governments increasingly want AI computing capacity located within their borders, operated under European law, so that sensitive data and critical AI services don't depend entirely on US companies. The UK, EU institutions and Nordic governments have launched programmes to build national AI capacity. Nscale has positioned itself as a European alternative that can build at hyperscale, while still partnering with American AI leaders. That gives it access to public-sector demand and to customers who need data to stay in Europe.

The capital intensity problem

Building AI data centres requires vast sums: land, buildings, power connections, cooling and above all GPUs, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars each. Companies like Nscale finance this through a mix of equity, debt secured against customer contracts and partnerships with landowners or energy companies. The model works well while demand for AI computing is strong and customers sign long contracts. The risk is that if demand cools or prices fall, heavily financed operators could struggle to cover their debts while their chips lose value.

Risks

• Execution: delivering several very large sites at once is difficult, and delays could damage relationships with major customers.
• Customer concentration: a few large contracts account for much of the expected revenue.
• Chip supply and obsolescence: access to the latest Nvidia chips is critical, and older chips lose value quickly.
• Grid and permitting: power connections and planning permission can take years in parts of Europe.

Why the Nordics attract data centres

Norway, Sweden and Finland combine abundant renewable electricity, mostly hydropower and wind, with relatively low power prices, cold air that reduces cooling needs, political stability and strong grids. Several global technology companies have built data centres there for years. AI has intensified the trend, because training large models consumes so much electricity that power cost and availability largely determine where it makes sense to build.

Questions for buyers of AI capacity

• Where is the capacity physically located, and under which country's laws?
• When will it be ready, and how firm is the power supply?
• Which GPU generations are available, and for how long are contracts?

Signals to follow

Watch for an IPO filing, delivery of Stargate Norway and UK capacity, new hyperscaler contracts, US expansion and any financing for new sites.

Considerations

European enterprises and governments can source AI computing within Europe. Energy-rich regions have a new type of customer for surplus power. Investors should weigh extraordinary growth against heavy capital needs and customer concentration.

Latest developments (October 2026)

Nscale filed for a US IPO in October 2026, applying to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker NSCL with Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley as lead bookrunners, according to W.Media; reports said it could target a valuation of about US$30 billion to US$35 billion. Its filing showed a net loss of about US$1.02 billion on US$140.6 million of revenue in the first half of 2026, with its largest customer providing 52% of revenue, according to Computing. It hired former Meta executive Justin Osofsky as chief operating officer.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.

1. Aker ASA (via Inderes)
2. BeBeez
3. CNBC