--- url: 'https://qubit.capital/blog/europe-series-b-plus-weekly-funding-roundup-mar-7-14-2026' title: 'Europe Series B+ Weekly Funding Roundup (Mar 7-14, 2026): $4B Raised Across 2 Deals' author: name: Sagar Agrawal url: 'https://qubit.capital/blog/author/sagar' date: '2026-03-14T16:23:54+05:30' modified: '2026-03-17T17:34:39+05:30' type: post summary: Two European AI infrastructure giants raised $4B this week — Nscale's record-breaking $2B Series C and Nebius' $2B Nvidia strategic investment. Full deal analysis inside. categories: - Weekly Funding Roundup image: 'https://qubit.capital/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Europe-series-b-funding-weekly-roundup-march-week-2.webp' published: true --- # Europe Series B+ Weekly Funding Roundup (Mar 7-14, 2026): $4B Raised Across 2 Deals European AI infrastructure shattered records this week with two deals totaling $4B. London-based Nscale closed a $2B Series C — the largest venture round in European history, valuing the AI cloud hyperscaler at $14.6B. Amsterdam-registered Nebius matched that figure with a $2B strategic investment from Nvidia to accelerate its GPU-optimized AI cloud platform globally. These two deals represent a seismic shift in the geography of AI infrastructure. Until recently, the assumption was that AI compute would be dominated by US hyperscalers and a handful of American startups like CoreWeave. This week’s raises signal that European players are emerging as credible alternatives, backed by sovereign AI ambitions, renewable energy advantages, and strategic partnerships with the same chip suppliers powering Silicon Valley. Together, Nscale and Nebius plan to deploy multiple gigawatts of AI compute capacity across three continents. Weekly Funding Roundup MAR 7-14, 2026 $4B TOTAL RAISED 2 DEALS CLOSED Mixed STAGE $2B AVG DEAL SIZE EUROPE TOP REGION BY STAGE Series C $2B 50% Strategic Growth Investment $2B 50% BY SECTOR Nscale AI Infrastructure / Cloud Computing $2B Nebius AI Infrastructure / Cloud Computing $2B Table of Contents - [1. London’s Nscale Raises $2B Series C – the Largest Venture Round in European History](#1-london-s-nscale-raises-$2b-series-c-the-largest-venture-round-in-european-history) [Deal Overview](#deal-overview) - [Investor Profile](#investor-profile) - [Company and Leadership](#company-and-leadership) - [Problem and Opportunity](#problem-and-opportunity) - [Product and Technology](#product-and-technology) - [Use of Proceeds and Vision](#use-of-proceeds-and-vision) - [Market Context](#market-context) - [2. Yandex Spin-Out Nebius Receives $2B Strategic Investment from Nvidia](#2-yandex-spin-out-nebius-receives-$2b-strategic-investment-from-nvidia) [Deal Overview](#deal-overview-1) - [Investor Profile](#investor-profile-1) - [Company and Leadership](#company-and-leadership-1) - [Problem and Opportunity](#problem-and-opportunity-1) - [Product and Technology](#product-and-technology-1) - [Use of Proceeds and Vision](#use-of-proceeds-and-vision-1) - [Market Context](#market-context-1) - [Lessons For Founders](#lessons-for-founders) ## 1. London’s Nscale Raises $2B Series C – the Largest Venture Round in European History ### Deal Overview - Stage: Series C - Sector: AI Infrastructure / Cloud Computing - Geography: London, United Kingdom - Round size: $2B (largest in European history) - Valuation: $14.6B - Total raised: Over $4.5B in equity in under 18 months ### Investor Profile - Backed by Norwegian industrial conglomerate Aker ASA and 8090 Industries as anchor investors - Strategic technology partners: Nvidia, Dell, Lenovo, and Nokia - Financial heavyweights: Citadel, Jane Street, Point72, and Fidelity Management & Research - The combination of industrial, technology, and quantitative finance investors is unusual and signals both infrastructure conviction and financial rigor - Board includes Sheryl Sandberg (former Meta COO), Susan Decker (former Yahoo President), and Nick Clegg (former UK Deputy PM) ### Company and Leadership - [Nscale](https://www.nscale.com/) was founded in 2023 by Josh Payne, a British-born entrepreneur who previously ran Arkon Energy (Bitcoin mining) - Payne cold-messaged Aker ASA CEO Oyvind Eriksen on LinkedIn to secure his first backer, an origin story that has become tech lore - Funding trajectory: $30M seed (Dec 2023) → $155M Series A (Dec 2024) → $1.1B Series B (Sep 2025) → $2B Series C (Mar 2026) - From seed to $14.6B valuation in under 18 months — one of the fastest ascents in European tech history ### Problem and Opportunity - AI workloads require purpose-built data centers optimized for GPU compute, cooling, and power density , general-purpose cloud infrastructure is suboptimal - European governments are pushing for sovereign AI capacity, creating regulatory tailwinds and public sector demand - The gap between AI compute demand and available supply continues to widen globally - European companies face data residency requirements that make US-only cloud providers insufficient ### Product and Technology - Vertically integrated AI cloud infrastructure spanning four layers: AI services (inference, fine-tuning), platform services (managed SLURM, Kubernetes), infrastructure services (GPU compute, networking, storage), and fleet operations (observability, usage tracking) - Data centers in Glomfjord and Narvik (Norway), Loughton (UK), and Texas (USA), with partner sites in Portugal and Iceland - Norwegian data centers run on 100% renewable energy, a significant sustainability and cost advantage - Expansion planned to Stavanger, Oslo, Slough, and North Carolina ### Use of Proceeds and Vision - Accelerating global development of AI data centers across Europe, North America, and Asia - An IPO is reportedly planned for 2026 - CEO Payne: “Over the next 5 years, Artificial Intelligence will be integrated into every industry, every product, and every job” - Vision: be the infrastructure layer powering AI integration globally, with a focus on European AI sovereignty ### Market Context - AI cloud infrastructure market is experiencing explosive demand with no signs of slowing - Competitors include CoreWeave, Lambda Labs, Together AI, and hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) - European governments actively funding sovereign AI capacity creates a regulatory moat US competitors cannot easily penetrate - Renewable energy access in Nordic countries provides structural cost advantages for power-intensive AI workloads ## 2. Yandex Spin-Out Nebius Receives $2B Strategic Investment from Nvidia ### Deal Overview - Stage: Strategic Growth Investment - Sector: AI Infrastructure / Cloud Computing - Geography: Amsterdam, Netherlands (publicly traded on NASDAQ) - Round size: $2B (strategic equity investment from Nvidia) - Market cap: ~$20B+ (NASDAQ: NBIS) ### Investor Profile - Sole investor: Nvidia, the world’s most valuable semiconductor company and the dominant GPU supplier for AI workloads - Nvidia previously invested in Nebius’ $700M private placement (December 2024) at a 0.5% stake - This $2B follow-on represents a dramatically deepened commitment and strategic partnership - Nvidia backing provides early access to next-generation hardware (Rubin platform, Vera CPUs, BlueField storage systems) ### Company and Leadership - [Nebius](https://nebius.com/) was spun out of Yandex, Russia’s largest tech company, and founded by Arkady Volozh (Yandex co-founder) - After EU sanctions forced Volozh off Yandex’s board in 2022, the Russian business was sold for $5.4B and international AI operations became Nebius Group N.V. - Revenue trajectory: FY2024 $117.5M → Q4 2024 $227.7M quarterly → 2025 exit ARR $1.25B → 2026 guidance $7B-$9B - Secured a $17B multi-year revenue agreement with Microsoft in September 2025 - Approximately 1,371 employees ### Problem and Opportunity - AI-native companies and enterprises need cloud infrastructure designed for AI from the ground up, not general-purpose cloud adapted for AI workloads - Training and inference workloads have fundamentally different infrastructure requirements than traditional cloud computing - The agentic AI era will require purpose-built inference infrastructure at massive scale - Existing hyperscalers serve AI as one workload among many, creating suboptimal performance and economics for AI-dedicated customers ### Product and Technology - Full-stack AI cloud platform designed from the ground up for AI workloads — covers data, training, and production deployment - Designs and operates its own data centers and servers, inheriting Yandex’s decades of infrastructure expertise - Plans to deploy over 5 GW of Nvidia capacity by end of 2030 - 800MW-1GW connected power targeted by end of 2026 - Early access to Nvidia Rubin platform, Vera CPUs, and BlueField storage systems through the strategic partnership ### Use of Proceeds and Vision - Deploying multiple gigawatt-scale AI factories in the US and Europe - Collaboration with Nvidia on AI factory design, inference and agentic AI stack development, and fleet management - CapEx of approximately $5B planned, funded by revenue growth and strategic investments - Vision: build “one of the first and largest clouds for all AI builders everywhere,” optimized for the agentic AI era ### Market Context - AI cloud infrastructure market is surging with demand from AI training and inference workloads - Competitors include CoreWeave, Lambda Labs, Nscale, and hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) - The $17B Microsoft anchor contract provides revenue certainty that few competitors can match - 2026 revenue guidance of $7B-$9B would represent roughly 60x growth from FY2024 — an extraordinary trajectory for an infrastructure company ## Lessons For Founders - European AI sovereignty is not just rhetoric, it is now a multi-billion-dollar funding thesis. Both Nscale and Nebius are capitalizing on European governments’ demand for AI infrastructure that is not entirely dependent on US hyperscalers, creating a geopolitical moat alongside their technical ones. - Strategic investors can be more valuable than financial ones at scale. Nvidia’s investment in Nebius provides not just capital but early access to next-generation hardware, joint engineering, and market credibility that no financial investor could deliver. Founders pursuing capital-intensive infrastructure plays should prioritize strategic alignment over valuation. - Renewable energy is becoming a competitive advantage, not just an ESG checkbox. Nscale’s Norwegian data centers running on 100% renewable energy reduce both costs and carbon footprint, increasingly important as AI compute power consumption becomes a public policy concern. - Speed of execution beats pedigree. Nscale’s Josh Payne went from cold-messaging an investor on LinkedIn to a $14.6B valuation in under 18 months. In infrastructure markets with explosive demand, the ability to deploy capacity faster than competitors matters more than decades of industry experience.