Nscale eyes September US IPO on $51B AI contract backlog
What's the deal? London-based AI infrastructure company Nscale is preparing for a US initial public offering as early as September, after telling prospective investors it has secured around $51 billion in total contracted revenue, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. Goldman SachsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and JPMorganDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → are reportedly advising on the listing, though talks remain ongoing and could slip.
Mind the gap. Executives told potential backers revenue topped $100 million in the second quarter of 2026, up from around $37 million in the first quarter and roughly $33 million for all of 2025. That $51 billion figure counts multi-year compute contracts as future revenue the moment they are signed; annualised, Nscale's run-rate lands nearer $400 million to $500 million.
Why now? The IPO push follows a rapid fundraising run. Nscale closed a $2 billion Series C in March at a $14.6 billion valuation, added a $900 million revolving credit facility in July, and agreed to acquire distributed AI software firm Anyscale for roughly $1.65 billion, a deal expected to close in the second half of 2026.
What Anyscale brings. The acquisition adds about 200 employees and a customer list including Coinbase, Runway, and Bedrock Robotics. Its co-founders reported 70% sequential revenue growth in the most recent quarter.
What's the endgame? Founded in 2024 by Josh Payne and spun out of Melbourne crypto miner Arkon Energy, Nscale is scaling towards 10GW of data centre capacity and nearly 289,000 active and contracted GPUs, including roughly 194,000 Nvidia Vera Rubin chips. The Series C also delivered a listing-ready board, adding Sheryl Sandberg, former Yahoo president Susan Decker, and former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg as directors.
What could go wrong? The gulf between contracted backlog and actual run-rate leaves Nscale exposed if large customers delay or cancel before GPUs are switched on. A single deal counted as billions can unwind fast.
The signal: Nscale joins a wave of AI infrastructure players chasing public markets on the back of soaring compute demand, following CoreWeave's listing and multibillion-dollar contracts with OpenAI and Nvidia. The scale of committed spending is real; the test is how quickly it converts to revenue.
Read more: Tech Funding News
Image credit: Nscale
