UK-based Nscale, an AI infrastructure provider, has raised $1.1B (approximately €936M) in a Series B round, marking the largest Series B in UK and European history.

Contentlockr

The financing was led by Aker ASA, with support from existing shareholders, including Sandton Capital, and participation from Blue Owl Managed Funds, Dell, Fidelity Management & Research Company, G Squared, Nokia, NVIDIA, Point72 and T.Capital. 

“AI is reshaping the global economy and redefining the value of renewable energy. With Nscale, we’re backing infrastructure that’s sovereign, scalable and purpose-built to accelerate this transformation. Nscale’s full-stack, GPU-first model gives it a real edge in execution. The scale and quality of this Series B round are a testament to Nscale’s vision and momentum – and to the strength of our collaboration. Through both our Series B investment and joint venture, we’re making a significant, long-term commitment to building industrial relevance in the age of AI,” says Øyvind Eriksen, President & CEO, Aker ASA.

Fund utilisation

The new funding will be used to expand its AI infrastructure across Europe, North America, and the Middle East.

This funding will help roll out its “AI factory” data centres for projects like Stargate UK and Stargate Norway, and support the growth of its AI cloud platform.

The capital will also enable the company to hire more engineers and operations staff to improve services for enterprise and government clients.

“We are building the AI-native Infrastructure platform of tomorrow,” says Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale. “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. We are building a vertically integrated, AI-engineered foundation designed to power the next generation of technological change, enabling industries and innovators across the globe to achieve what today feels impossible.

UK’s AI infrastructure commitment

The funding follows a few days after the announcement of Nscale’s UK AI infrastructure commitment. 

Together with Microsoft, it announced its plans to develop the UK’s largest AI supercomputer on Nscale’s AI Campus in Loughton.

Separately, Nscale, OpenAI and NVIDIA announced they are together establishing Stargate UK.

“The success of UK-founded companies like Nscale shows how our country can be at the cutting edge of AI. By attracting global expertise and investment, it is building the essential infrastructure for the UK to compete internationally, drive growth, and create jobs across the country,” says UK AI Minister Kanishka Narayan.

In July, Nscale announced the launch of Stargate Norway, a partnership with Aker ASA and OpenAI to create Europe’s first hyperscale AI.

They aim to provide 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by the end of 2026.

In September, the Nscale-Aker joint venture signed a large deal with Microsoft to build AI infrastructure in Narvik, Norway. Nscale also plans to work more with Dell Technologies to support AI efforts in Europe.

Nscale: Provider of advanced AI infrastructure

Led by Josh Payne, Nscale is a global provider of advanced AI infrastructure, designed for high-security needs.

The company provides vertically integrated compute, networking, storage, managed software and AI services delivered in Nscale-owned and colocated data centres.

With its fully integrated AI tools and new data centres in Europe and North America, Nscale helps customers efficiently train, fine-tune, and run AI applications at scale.

We are creating one of the largest global platforms of its kind – purpose-built to meet surging demand and unlock breakthroughs at unprecedented scale. This allows Nscale to provide our customers access to scarce, and highly sought after, compute capacity and rapidly accelerate the build-out of secure, compliant and energy-efficient AI infrastructure,” adds Payne. “Europe needs a Hyperscaler, and Nscale is rising to the challenge.”