Nscale has raised billions to power Europe’s AI ambitions. Now the startup must prove the hype can survive reality

Sheryl Sandberg has a habit of joining tech firms before they become household names. She joined Google at roughly 250 employees and Facebook at 550. When Josh Payne set out to recruit her to the board of his AI infrastructure startup Nscale, it was a letter to his management team that convinced her she’d found another one.

“The only person I’d ever seen write like that was Mark [Zuckerberg],” Sandberg tells Fortune. “It was so clear, so thorough, but so big in its vision.”

Payne wants Nscale to become the “foundation layer” beneath the global AI market. He got Sandberg on board, along with former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and former ­Yahoo president Susan Decker. “I wanted a board that had experience building a trillion-dollar company,” says Payne, “because I believe that we can do the same.”

This board was another step in Nscale’s breakneck climb to the top of the UK’s AI scene. In just two years, the company has gone from a crypto-mining spinout to one of the most prominent companies in Europe’s AI data center push.

The company builds and operates computer centers and rents the processing power to firms that need to train and run large AI models. As Europe scrambles to close the gap with the U.S. in AI computing capacity, Nscale has become a vital part of the region’s bid to become a global player.

Such companies are being dubbed “neoclouds”: providers that build or finance AI-ready data centers and rent the computing power to anyone who needs it—from AI labs to governments. (Other well-known neoclouds include CoreWeave and Nebius.) Nscale’s pitch is that it locks in long-term access to cheap renewable energy, building its own data centers, and owning the hardware and ­software stack on top.

Like most neoclouds, Nscale is also piling on debt to fund its build-out. Since the start of 2026, the company has taken on a $1.4 billion GPU-backed loan and a $790 million financing facility in Norway. The only public ­accounts on record, covering the early stages of the business from seven months to December 2024, show a $24 million loss.

“You always have some negative commentators. But every dollar is backed by real revenues.”Josh Payne, CEO, Nscale

“You always have some negative commentators. But every dollar is backed by real revenues.”

Huge demand for data centers has made Nscale one of the most closely watched newcomers in Europe’s AI efforts, but it has also faced questions about whether its rapid rise and $14.6 billion valuation are built on solid foundations.

Spun out of Arkon Energy in 2024, Nscale has become one of Europe’s best-funded AI bets.

Nscale has raised almost $4 billion from companies including Dell, Nokia, and Nvidia; signed sweeping contracts with several tech giants; and been dubbed a “national champion for AI infrastructure” by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. This year it closed a $2 billion Series C round at a $14.6 billion valuation, one of the largest amounts ever raised at this stage by a European company.

Nscale’s rapid rise has, in part, been bound up with Europe’s anxiety around its lagging AI build-out. But the company has plans for sites across the U.S. and has leaned heavily on American technology giants and customers for investment and reputation. Payne describes his ambitions as global and believes Nscale could become “the next great AI platform.” While today it may be a “picks and shovels” infrastructure company, he wants to move up the stack to deliver services.

Sandberg, meanwhile, defines her role as guiding the startup through the kind of global scaling challenge she has seen before. Her focus is on helping Payne build the........

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