Nscale raises $2 billion, adds Sandberg and Clegg to board

Nscale announced a $2.0 billion Series C on March 9, 2026, valuing the British AI infrastructure company at about $14.6 billion and naming Sheryl Sandberg, Susan Decker and Nick Clegg to its board, the company and multiple outlets reported. The round, which Datacenterdynamics described as inclusive of a Pre‑Series C SAFE, was led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries and included institutional and technology investors such as Astra Capital Management, Citadel, Dell, Jane Street, Lenovo, Linden Advisors, Nokia, Nvidia and Point72. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan acted as joint placement agents on the deal, Datacenterdynamics reported.

The financing pushes Nscale into the upper tier of European start-up valuations; Datacenterdynamics framed the company’s claim as calling the deal “the largest of its kind in European history,” while the Financial Times described it as one of the largest such transactions for a European tech start-up, Mobile World Live reported. Techzine, citing The Next Web, said Nscale has now raised over $4.5 billion across equity rounds in less than six months.

Josh Payne, Nscale’s founder and chief executive, cast the investment as a response to a sweeping commercial shift: “This is the fourth industrial revolution; the world is changing at a rapid pace. Over the next five years, Artificial Intelligence will be integrated into every industry, every product, and every job. Accelerating drug discovery, extending human life, autonomizing travel and robotics, lifting productivity, and driving massive growth. This is leading to the largest infrastructure buildout in human history. Nscale is leading this buildout. We are building this foundation that the market sits on, the engine of superintelligence,” Datacenterdynamics reported.

Company materials and trade coverage describe Nscale as building vertically integrated AI infrastructure, combining GPU compute, networking, data services and orchestration software with projects across Europe, North America and Asia. The business, spun out of Australian Bitcoin mining firm Arkon Energy and launched in 2024, already lists data center projects in the UK, Portugal, Norway and Iceland, and has commercial ties to Aker ASA, including a Narvik project called Stargate Norway, a 230 MW facility powered entirely by renewable energy, Techzine reported.

Commercial traction has attracted scrutiny as much as capital. Techzine and Trendingtopics reported differing accounts of a Microsoft deal: Trendingtopics said Nscale signed a contract in October worth up to $14 billion to build a large AI data center in Texas, while Techzine reported a major agreement to construct four AI data centers across Europe and the US. Mobile World Live, citing the Financial Times, said Nscale is considering an initial public offering this year.

The funding surge raises immediate community and policy questions. Rapid expansion of AI data centers can create local jobs and anchor green power investments, as the Narvik example suggests, yet it also concentrates demand for electricity, water and high-performance chips in regions with uneven regulatory oversight. Trendingtopics noted geopolitical risks, including disruptions to energy and semiconductor supply chains from the Middle East conflict, that could affect both operations and the availability of components critical to hospitals and research institutions relying on AI for diagnostics and drug discovery.

Board additions amplify governance implications. Datacenterdynamics and other outlets describe Sheryl Sandberg as Meta Platforms’ former chief operating officer and co‑founder of Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, Nick Clegg as the former U.K. deputy prime minister and, in Datacenterdynamics’ account, currently a general partner at Hiro Capital while Techzine noted his stint as Meta’s head of global affairs until early 2025, and Susan Decker as CEO and co‑founder of Raftr in Datacenterdynamics and Mobile World Live’s profiles while Techzine identifies her as a former president of Yahoo and a director at Berkshire Hathaway and Costco. Those appointments bring corporate and regulatory heft as governments intensify scrutiny of AI infrastructure, data flows and public interest uses such as healthcare.

Nscale’s rapid funding path, from a $155 million round in December 2024 to $1.1 billion in September 2025 and a $433 million Pre‑Series C SAFE shortly after, illustrates how private capital is underwriting an infrastructure wave that will shape AI’s reach across industries and communities. Regulators and local officials now face a test: steer investment toward equitable health and economic outcomes while managing energy and supply‑chain risks as these facilities scale.