AI infrastructure provider Nscale secures $1.1bn in series B funding

Artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure provider Nscale has secured $1.1bn in series B funding, a week after it was announced the firm would be working with the UK government to deploy the UK’s largest graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster.

The company claims it is the largest Series B funding round ever secured in the UK and Europe. It was led by Norwegian industrial investment company Aker ASA, with support from the firm’s existing shareholders, and tech firms Nokia and NVIDIA.

Nscale, which has a UK headquarters, was incorporated in May 2024 after being spun out of Australian crypto-mining infrastructure provider, Arkon Energy.

As previously reported by Computer Weekly, the majority of its directors are located overseas, and it announced plans to open a UK datacentre in Loughton, Essex, by late 2026.

Earlier this month, the company announced a technology tie-up with software giant Microsoft that would see the pair collaborate to create the UK’s largest supercomputer at its site in Loughton.

At present, its largest infrastructure investment appears to be in Norway, while Arkon Energy is known to have operated out of datacentres in Ohio in the United States.

The company said it plans to use the investment to accelerate the deployment of Nscale’s large-scale AI infrastructure across Europe, North America and the Middle East. This is in support of its involvement in projects such as OpenAI’s bid to build sovereign AI compute capacity in Norway and the UK through its respective Stargate Norway and UK initiatives. According to Nscale, Stargate Norway is targeting the deployment of 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs by the end of 2026.

Nscale said the funding will also be used to expand the size of its engineering and operations teams, in support of its plans to grow its customer base within the enterprise and government sectors worldwide.

Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale, said: “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. Europe needs a hyperscaler, and Nscale is rising to the challenge.”

Øyvind Eriksen, president and CEO at Aker ASA, added: “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.”

‍Since the launch of the government’s AI opportunities action plan policy paper in January 2025, Nscale has been name-checked in ministerial speeches and press releases from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Kanishka Narayan, the UK’s AI minister, said the company is playing an important role in helping the government achieve its aim of positioning the UK as an AI superpower.

“The success of UK-founded companies like Nscale shows how our country can be at the cutting edge of AI,” said Narayan. “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.”