AI cloud firm Nscale seeking $3.5B in pre-IPO financing from Nvidia and Third Point

September 5, 2026 - 04:20

London-based AI cloud provider Nscale is in the middle of a major fundraising push, looking to secure $3.5 billion in private financing ahead of a planned public listing. The company has reportedly brought in heavyweights like Nvidia and hedge fund Third Point as part of the round, a signal that institutional investors are still willing to place large bets on AI infrastructure.

What is turning heads is not just the size of the raise, but the numbers Nscale is sharing with potential backers. The firm now tells investors that its contracted revenue pipeline stands at $103 billion. That figure is more than double what the company was quoting just four weeks ago, when it cited around $50 billion in signed deals. The jump suggests either a sudden wave of new enterprise agreements or a change in how the company accounts for future commitments.

Nscale operates data centers and cloud services tailored for AI workloads, including GPU clusters and model training capacity. The company has been expanding quickly, with recent announcements about new facilities in Europe and the U.S. The pre-IPO round is expected to close within the next few months, and the proceeds would go toward scaling up data center construction and purchasing additional chips.

The involvement of Nvidia is notable because the chipmaker often invests in companies that buy its hardware in bulk, creating a tighter link between supplier and customer. Third Point, led by Daniel Loeb, has been more selective in tech infrastructure plays, making this a meaningful endorsement.

Still, the $103 billion contract figure raises questions. For a private company that has not yet filed for an IPO, that level of backlog would put it in the same league as some of the largest cloud providers in the world. Skeptics will want to see how many of those contracts are binding versus letters of intent or framework agreements. Nscale has not publicly broken down the number, and company representatives declined to comment beyond confirming that the fundraising is underway.

If the round succeeds, Nscale would join a crowded field of AI cloud startups racing to secure capital before public markets open up again for tech listings. The company has not set a timeline for the IPO, but sources close to the process say a listing could come as early as next year, depending on market conditions.