Crusoe seeks $3 billion funding as AI computing power demand drives valuation to $30 billion

Crusoe in talks to raise $3 billion funding, Bloomberg News reports

July 2 (Reuters) - AI data center startup Crusoe is in talks to raise about $3 billion in a funding round that may triple its valuation, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation. The startup has contracts to supply AI computing power for the likes ⁠of Meta (META.O), opens new tab and Oracle (ORCL.N), opens new tab, the report said, as technology giants spend billions of dollars on data centers to meet the massive computing requirements for GenAI. Reuters could not independently verify the report and Crusoe did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The startup, which builds and operates the type ⁠of large data centers that power AI systems, is still in active talks on the round, and a final valuation has not been set, according to ⁠the Bloomberg report. Investors, however, expect the value to fall within the $30 billion range, including the new investments, the ⁠report said. Last year, Crusoe raised $1.38 billion in a Series E round at more than a $10 billion ⁠valuation. The round was co-led by technology investors Valor Equity Partners and Mubadala Capital. Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Crusoe in talks to raise $3 billion as AI demand lifts valuation - Bloomberg By Investing.com

Investing.com - Crusoe is in talks to raise about $3 billion in a funding round that may triple the company's valuation to around $30 billion, people familiar with the situation said, according to reporting from Bloomberg. The data center operator was valued at about $10 billion in October. The firm builds and operates large data centers that power artificial intelligence systems and has contracts to supply AI computing power for Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google. The company is still in active talks on the round and a final valuation has not been set, the people said. Crusoe disclosed last month that it had contracts for nearly 5 gigawatts' worth of computing power and had more than 40 gigawatts in its total project pipeline. Meta is under contract to buy computing capacity from Crusoe at two data centers in Childress, Texas, and Warrenton, Missouri, Bloomberg reported in June. The company was originally founded in 2018 as a business that captured excess natural gas from energy fields to power crypto-mining operations before shifting its focus to AI infrastructure. Bloomberg reported in June that Crusoe was being pushed aside at a campus it was developing in Wyoming after failing to lock in customers including Google. The developer said it had "paused" its plan to build the Wyoming data center, though people familiar with the situation said at the time that Crusoe was being pressured to leave the project after Google raised concerns about costs and timetable under Crusoe's watch. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.