Sandberg and Clegg join Nscale’s board as Stargate Norway startup valued at $14.6 billion

Amid growing demand for data centers that can deliver AI computing at scale, Nvidia-backed British AI infrastructure company Nscale is now valued at $14.6 billion. This makes it one of the newest deca plants in Europe alongside Helsing and Mistral AI.

Nscale has bet on vertical integration, from power and data centers to computing and orchestration software. Its new valuation stems from a $2 billion Series C, which it calls “the largest in European history,” though the figure includes a $433 million pre-Series C SAFE backed by Blue Owl, Dell, Nvidia and Nokia in October.

The raise has been supported by Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, whose participation has been interpreted as preparation for an IPO — and not without reason: Nscale CEO Josh Payne told the New York Times that his company may seek to go public “as early as this year” to generate more capital.

Alongside its funding and plans, the company also announced that former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, former Yahoo CEO Susan Decker, and former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will join its board.

Nscale is no newcomer to big tours and announcements. In September, it announced a $1.1 billion Series B led by Aker. Aker is a Norwegian public company with interests in energy and is also co-leading the Series C alongside New York-based investment firm 8090 Industries.

The two companies also agreed that Aker’s joint venture with Nscale will now be entirely managed by the startup. The Norway-based AI infrastructure project, dubbed Stargate Norway, has an ambition to run on 100,000 Nvidia GPUs by the end of 2026, with OpenAI as an initial customer.

“This move strengthens execution by putting delivery and governance under one roof, while maintaining continuity with the people and projects already underway,” according to Aker President and CEO Øyvind Eriksen, a member of Nscale’s board of directors.

Last October, Nscale also signed an expanded deal with Microsoft to bring nearly 200,000 Nvidia GPUs to three data centers in Europe and one in the United States, in collaboration with Dell.

Dell and Nvidia participated in the Series C, as did Astra Capital, Citadel, Jane Street, Lenovo, Linden Advisors, Nokia, and Point72. Nscale expects the new funding to accelerate the development of AI infrastructure across Europe, North America and Asia, while helping the company expand its engineering and operations teams and enhance its platform.

Aside from equity, the company also raised debt last month, with a $1.4 billion deferred term loan backed by GPUs to fund some of its clusters across Europe. The program aims to harness the growing demand for enterprise and low-cost renewable energy while renewing its pledge to reuse waste heat, develop local skills and invest in regional infrastructure as part of Stargate Norway.