Fluidstack’s Meteoric Rise: AI Data Center Startup in Talks for $1B Round at $18B Valuation

Fluidstack in Talks to Raise $1 Billion Round at $18 Billion Valuation

Fluidstack, a startup specializing in building data centers for AI companies, is currently in discussions to secure a significant $1 billion funding round at an impressive $18 billion valuation. Reports suggest that Jane Street could potentially lead this funding round, as stated by Bloomberg.

If this deal materializes, it would represent a substantial increase in Fluidstack’s valuation within a relatively short period.

Back in December, the company was reportedly in the process of raising about $700 million at a valuation of $7.5 billion. Sources shared this information with Bloomberg at the time, although the formal closure of that round was not officially announced. The previous round was rumored to be spearheaded by Situational Awareness, a fund focused on AGI, founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner. It was further supported by notable names such as the Collison brothers from Stripe, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and AI investor and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.

As of February, discussions for this funding round were reportedly ongoing, with Google expressing interest in contributing $100 million to the round, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The buzz surrounding Fluidstack is well-founded. In November, Anthropic made headlines by signing a staggering $50 billion deal with the startup to construct tailored data centers in Texas and New York. Unlike major cloud providers like AWS, which cater to various computing needs, Fluidstack’s infrastructure is specifically designed for AI applications.

This partnership with Anthropic served as a significant vote of confidence in Fluidstack, a company that had previously operated under the radar in the U.S. Anthropic primarily relied on AWS and Google Cloud for its operations, with a partnership with Microsoft for specific clients. However, due to its rapid growth, Anthropic required additional capacity, leading to the deal with Fluidstack, allowing them more control over their cloud infrastructure.

The partnership with Anthropic was a pivotal moment for Fluidstack, prompting the company to relocate its headquarters from the U.K. to New York. In a strategic move, Fluidstack withdrew from a major €10 billion AI project in France to focus on opportunities in the U.S., as reported by Bloomberg.

In addition to Anthropic, Fluidstack boasts Meta, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, and other prominent companies as its clients. Prior to the deal with Anthropic, Fluidstack was recognized for providing infrastructure support to Mistral.

Despite these significant developments, Fluidstack has not issued any comments in response to requests for input.