A company that didn't exist two years ago is now trying to raise $3.5 billion before going public — and it's already sitting on a $103 billion contract book.
Nscale, the London-based AI cloud infrastructure provider founded in 2024, is in advanced talks for pre-IPO financing that would set the stage for one of the most ambitious tech listings in recent memory. Bloomberg first reported the fundraising on September 4, 2026 (UTC), citing people familiar with the matter.
The raise: Third Point leads, Nvidia chips in
The financing is split into two pieces. Nscale is seeking up to $1.5 billion in convertible notes, with Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point set to lead the round. Separately, it's aiming to secure roughly $2 billion from Nvidia. Goldman Sachs is working on the fundraising.
The convertibles are priced at a double-digit discount to the eventual IPO price. That discount narrows as the valuation climbs and stops adjusting once the company hits a $30 billion valuation — giving investors a clear ceiling on how cheaply they can get in.
Nvidia's participation makes strategic sense: Nscale has contracted for about 194,000 Vera Rubin GPUs, so the chipmaker would be helping finance one of its biggest customers.
From $51B to $103B in a month
The most striking number in Nscale's investor pitch isn't the raise — it's the contract book. The company is briefing investors that its total contracted revenue now stands at roughly $103 billion. Four weeks ago, that figure was reported at $51 billion.
A single deal accounts for most of the doubling. On August 26, 2026 (UTC), Anthropic agreed to pay Nscale $45 billion for computing power. That contract now anchors the entire flotation.
What makes the Anthropic deal more interesting is who said no first. Semafor reported that Microsoft walked away over the summer during a review of its data center portfolio, and Google passed after examining its own capital spending. Both tech giants had the chance to take the capacity and declined — clearing the way for Anthropic to lock it in.
The financials: tiny today, huge tomorrow
Nscale is telling investors it could produce annual revenue of about $18.1 billion and adjusted earnings of around $13.6 billion. The company calls those figures illustrative rather than formal guidance.
For context, Nscale booked roughly $33 million of revenue across all of 2025. Its most recent quarter passed $100 million. The gap between current revenue and the contracted book is enormous — but that's the nature of infrastructure businesses: contracts get signed years before the capacity comes online.
Norway, hydropower, and a star-studded board
The European side of Nscale's business runs on European money. Its Narvik project in northern Norway drew $790 million of committed debt from ABN AMRO, DNB, Nordea, SEB, and Eksfin — Norway's state export finance agency. The site trades on cold Arctic air and Nordic hydropower, and Microsoft is the customer there.
Nscale's board includes Sheryl Sandberg, the former Meta COO, and Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister who now serves as Meta's president of global affairs.
The company plans to list in New York — Europe's largest AI infrastructure company, part-funded by a Nordic state lender and written into UK sovereign AI plans, intends to sell its shares across the Atlantic.
Deliberations are still ongoing. The size and the investor lineup could still change, and no final decisions have been made. But if Nscale pulls this off, it would be one of the fastest rises from zero to IPO in infrastructure history.
Sources: Bloomberg News, TNW, Channel News Asia, Semafor
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