Nscale founding director exits AI infrastructure provider in wake of $1.1bn investment round

One of the founding directors of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure provider Nscale has exited the company, in the wake of it securing $1.1bn in Series B funding, Computer Weekly has learned.  

According to a Companies House filing dated 8 October 2025, Nathan Townsend has stepped down as a director of Nscale, which he co-founded with company CEO Josh Payne in May 2024.

The company was created through a spin-off from cryptocurrency mining and renewably powered infrastructure provider Arkon Energy, which Townsend originally founded with Payne. It is unclear if Arkon Energy still exists, as the company’s website is no longer accessible on the internet, but Townsend’s LinkedIn Page states that he remains the company’s chief operating officer.  

Companies House also confirmed that another director, investment banker Barry Kupferberg, departed the company on 8 October 2025.

Meanwhile, the names of two other directors have now been added to the company’s roster, according to Companies House, including Øyvind Eriksen, who is the president and CEO of Aker ASA, the Norwegian industrial investment company that led Nscale’s recent funding round.

In a statement to Computer Weekly, a spokesperson for Nscale said the recent reshuffle of the company’s board of directors is connected to the Series B funding the company closed in late September 2025. As reported by Computer Weekly at the time, Nscale claimed the $1.1bn investment it received through its Series B funding round is the largest ever secured in the UK and Europe.

“In connection with this closing, Nscale implemented some governance changes, including modifications in the directors appointed to the board,” a company spokesperson told Computer Weekly. “We believe our new board composition will set the group up for success as Nscale continues to grow.”

Within days of the company switching up its board of directors, it announced – on 15 October 2025 – that it had signed an “expanded deal” with software giant Microsoft to supply 200,000 NVIDIA GB300 graphics processing units (GPUs) to stand-up hyperscale AI infrastructures across Europe and the US.

This is in addition to another deal announced in September 2025 that committed the two companies to work together to create the UK’s largest AI supercomputer at Nscale’s site in Loughton, Essex, which will also play host to Microsoft Azure services.

The delivery of the October 2025 deal, billed by Nscale as one of the largest AI infrastructure contracts ever signed, will be done in collaboration with Dell Technologies, the company confirmed.

“This agreement confirms Nscale’s place as a partner of choice for the world’s most important technology leaders,” said Payne in a statement announcing the deal. “Few companies are equipped to deliver GPU deployments at this scale, but we have the experience and have built the global pipeline to do so.

“The pace with which we have expanded our capacity demonstrates both our readiness and our commitment to efficiency, sustainability and providing our customers with the most advanced technology available. It’s a clear signal that Nscale is setting a new standard for how the next wave of AI infrastructure will be delivered.”