Crusoe in Talks to Raise $3 Billion in Round That May Triple Firm’s Value

Crusoe, the data center upstart with contracts to supply AI computing power for the likes of Meta Platforms Inc. and Oracle Corp., is in talks to raise about $3 billion in a funding round that may triple the company’s valuation, people familiar with the situation said.

The firm, which builds and operates the type of large data centers that power artificial intelligence systems, is still in active talks on the round, and a final valuation hasn’t been set, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public. But investors expect the value to fall within the $30 billion range, including the new investments, they said. The company was valued at about $10 billion in October.

Crusoe declined to comment.

Originally founded in 2018 as a business that captured excess natural gas from energy fields to power crypto-mining operation, Crusoe later shifted its focused to AI infrastructure. The company’s value is set to soar as the artificial intelligence boom drives unprecedented, worldwide demand for computing capacity. Last month, Crusoe disclosed that it had contracts for nearly 5 gigawatts’ worth of computing power and had more than 40 gigawatts in its total project pipeline. That’s enough power to energize roughly 30 million US homes at any one time.

Meta is under contract to buy computing capacity from Crusoe at two data centers in Childress, Texas, and Warrenton, Missouri, Bloomberg reported in June. Crusoe also has deals with Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Oracle.

Crusoe’s efforts to capitalize on the AI boom has come with its share of challenges. In June, Bloomberg reported that the company was being pushed aside at a campus it was developing in Wyoming after failing to lock in customers including Google.

The developer said that it had “paused” its plan to build the Wyoming data center. In reality, Crusoe was being pressured to leave the project, after Google had raised concerns about the costs and timetable under Crusoe’s watch, people familiar with the situation said at the time, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public, according to people familiar with the situation.

The company’s last funding round was co-led by Valor Equity Partners and Mubadala Capital.