All the fundraising deals in the data center market (from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026)
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Data center companies announced 34 qualifying funding rounds between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026.
These data center funding rounds raised at least $12.67 billion in disclosed equity.
Most data center market funding went to companies that build and operate large AI-ready campuses.
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Insights
- Hyperscale data center operators captured $10.64 billion, equal to 84.0% of all disclosed funding, because owning sites, power capacity and buildings requires very large amounts of capital.
- The three largest deals represented more than 81% of funding in every quarter with several transactions, showing that data center market totals depend heavily on a few major rounds.
- Q1 2026 was the strongest quarter, with 11 deals and at least $4.94 billion raised, mainly because DayOne and Nscale each secured about $2 billion.
- Power infrastructure produced ten data center funding rounds, as grid delays and electricity shortages created demand for private generation, transformers, batteries and new power-conversion systems.
- Cooling infrastructure attracted seven transactions worth $385.2 million, but cooling rounds remained much smaller than the multibillion-dollar financings raised by hyperscale data center operators.
- Nscale completed three separate rounds worth $3.53 billion, making Nscale one of the main drivers of data center market funding during the period.
- Alternative data center models attracted meaningful capital, with modular, offshore and orbital projects receiving funding to address construction delays, limited grid access and cooling constraints.
- Only one qualifying data center market deal was announced in Q2 2025, compared with 11 deals in Q1 2026, showing how quickly funding activity expanded.
- No qualifying transaction was below $2 million, which reflects the high capital requirements of physical data center capacity, facility power systems and industrial cooling equipment.
- NVIDIA participated in five disclosed rounds, showing that strategic technology suppliers are helping finance the physical capacity needed to support AI computing demand.
This market map, featured in our data center market deck, highlights top companies and startups in the data center market
Summary table of the funding deals in the data center market (last 5 quarters)
We define the data center market as the market for delivering and operating physical data center capacity, including space, power and cooling used to host computing equipment.
We include colocation providers, hyperscale facilities and the dedicated infrastructure required to power and cool data center IT loads.
We exclude servers, GPUs, storage equipment, networking products, software and cloud-services revenue.
You can also read our detailed analysis to understand how funding activity in the data center market has evolved over the last few years.
Also, you should know that we have a dedicated page, updated weekly, with all the latest fundraising deals in the data center market.
| Name | What they do | Amount in $ | Quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exowatt | Builds solar-thermal power and storage systems for US AI data centers. | $35M | Q2 2025 |
| Armada | Produces containerized data centers for remote, industrial and sovereign AI projects. | $131M | Q3 2025 |
| Aalo Atomics | Develops factory-built nuclear microreactors that can power US data center campuses. | $100M | Q3 2025 |
| Vantage Data Centers | Develops and operates large hyperscale data center campuses around the world. | $1,600M | Q3 2025 |
| Princeton Digital Group | Operates hyperscale data centers across major Asia-Pacific markets. | $1,300M | Q3 2025 |
| Nscale | Develops high-density AI data center campuses in Europe and North America. | $1,100M | Q3 2025 |
| Corintis | Designs microfluidic cooling systems for high-density AI processors and facilities. | $24M | Q3 2025 |
| Fermi America | Develops a large Texas data center campus with dedicated power generation. | $100M | Q3 2025 |
| Firmus | Develops energy-efficient AI data center campuses in Australia and Asia-Pacific. | $327M | Q4 2025 |
| Nscale | Builds AI-ready campuses with high-density power and cooling infrastructure. | $433M | Q4 2025 |
| Crusoe | Develops large US AI data center campuses supported by dedicated energy infrastructure. | $1,375M | Q4 2025 |
| Amperesand | Builds power-conversion equipment for AI data centers and other critical facilities. | $80M | Q4 2025 |
| Corintis | Integrates microfluidic cooling channels into AI processors and cooling assemblies. | $25M | Q4 2025 |
| ZincFive | Supplies nickel-zinc battery systems that provide backup power for data centers. | $30M | Q4 2025 |
| Nine Labs | Develops liquid-cooling equipment for high-density data center racks in Asia. | $2.2M | Q4 2025 |
| Accelsius | Provides two-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling for racks and AI campuses. | $65M | Q1 2026 |
| DayOne Data Centers | Develops and operates hyperscale data center campuses across Asia-Pacific and Europe. | $2,000M+ | Q1 2026 |
| Joule | Develops US AI campuses with land, water, grid access and private generation. | $60M | Q1 2026 |
| C2i Semiconductors | Builds modular power-delivery systems connecting electricity grids to AI data center racks. | $15M | Q1 2026 |
| DG Matrix | Produces solid-state transformers that manage several power sources for data centers. | $60M | Q1 2026 |
| Claros | Develops efficient power-delivery equipment for high-density AI data centers. | $30M | Q1 2026 |
| Frore Systems | Builds solid-state air and liquid cooling devices for dense computing systems. | $143M | Q1 2026 |
| Nscale | Develops and operates high-density AI data center campuses internationally. | $2,000M | Q1 2026 |
| EPG | Manufactures prefabricated modules that reduce data center construction time. | $100M+ | Q1 2026 |
| Starcloud | Develops solar-powered orbital data centers for processing AI workloads in space. | $170M | Q1 2026 |
| GDS Holdings | Operates carrier-neutral data centers across major markets in China. | $300M | Q1 2026 |
| Firmus | Develops high-density AI data center facilities in Australia and Asia-Pacific. | $505M | Q2 2026 |
| EPIC Microsystems | Builds vertical power-delivery systems for next-generation AI data center racks. | $21M | Q2 2026 |
| Iceotope | Supplies precision liquid cooling for data center servers and racks. | $26M | Q2 2026 |
| Panthalassa | Develops offshore computing nodes powered and cooled by ocean conditions. | $140M | Q2 2026 |
| Armada | Produces modular AI data centers for industrial, energy and sovereign customers. | $230M | Q2 2026 |
| ZutaCore | Provides waterless direct-to-chip cooling for high-density AI data centers. | $100M+ | Q2 2026 |
| TAR | Builds modular private power systems for data center facilities. | $27M | Q2 2026 |
| Aston Power | Develops private power networks for data centers and industrial customers. | $20M | Q2 2026 |
In our data center market deck, we identify pain points entrepreneurs should prioritize
How has funding activity in the data center market changed over time?
Q1 2026 was the most active quarter, with 11 deals and at least $4.94 billion raised, although two $2 billion rounds accounted for most of the total.
Q2 2025 was the least active quarter because Exowatt was the only qualifying data center market company to announce a round.
Data center market funding fell by 78.4% from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026, but Q2 2026 funding remained about 2,954% higher than Q2 2025.
When the two largest deals are removed from each multi-deal quarter, the data center funding trend becomes less extreme. The remaining funding rose from $464.2 million in Q4 2025 to $943 million in Q1 2026, before falling to $334 million in Q2 2026.
| Quarter | Number of deals | Total raised ($) | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 1 | $35M | Only Exowatt qualified, making this the smallest quarter for data center market funding. |
| Q3 2025 | 7 | $4.36B | Vantage, Princeton Digital Group and Nscale generated most of the quarterly data center funding. |
| Q4 2025 | 7 | $2.27B | Crusoe led the quarter, while cooling, batteries and power-conversion companies added smaller rounds. |
| Q1 2026 | 11 | $4.94B | DayOne and Nscale each raised about $2 billion, while nine other deals added market breadth. |
| Q2 2026 | 8 | $1.07B | Firmus and Armada led a more balanced quarter with power, cooling and alternative-location projects. |
| Total | 34 | $12.67B | The data center market attracted large operator rounds and a growing number of infrastructure suppliers. |
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, shows how Equinix is capturing share in data centers
Which startups in the data center market raised the largest rounds over the last months?
These startups raised the most recently in the data center market:
- DayOne Data Centers raised more than $2 billion to accelerate construction and expand its hyperscale data center network across Europe and Asia-Pacific.
- Nscale raised $2 billion to fund a global pipeline of high-density AI data center campuses and contracted customer deployments.
- Vantage Data Centers raised $1.6 billion to expand its Asia-Pacific platform and support a large data center campus in Johor.
- Crusoe raised $1.375 billion because developing gigawatt-scale AI data center campuses requires major spending on construction, land and electricity.
- Princeton Digital Group raised $1.3 billion to build AI-ready data center capacity across several fast-growing Asia-Pacific markets.
- Nscale raised $1.1 billion to develop new AI campuses and meet large capacity commitments in Europe and North America.
- Firmus raised $505 million to accelerate Project Southgate and expand high-density AI data center capacity in Australia.
- Nscale raised $433 million to deepen relationships with strategic suppliers and finance additional AI infrastructure deployments.
- Firmus raised $327 million to begin construction of new Australian AI-factory capacity.
- GDS Holdings raised $300 million to strengthen its balance sheet and continue developing data center capacity in China.
And, yes, we do cover most of them in our our beautiful pitch about the data center market.
You may also want to check our ranking of the most funded startups in the data center market as well as our list of the most valued startups.
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, illustrates yearly funding for data center startups
Is the data center market shifting toward smaller or bigger deals?
The average disclosed data center market deal was about $372.8 million across the five quarters, mainly because several hyperscale operators raised more than $1 billion.
The quarterly average moved from $35 million in Q2 2025 to $622.1 million in Q3 2025, $324.6 million in Q4 2025, $449.4 million in Q1 2026 and $133.6 million in Q2 2026. The average changed sharply whenever a large data center operator completed a major financing.
Without the largest operator rounds, the data center market shows a steadier flow of medium-sized funding for cooling, power systems and modular facilities.
| Quarter | Number of deals | Average deal size ($) | Deals below $2M | Deals above $50M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 1 | $35.0M | 0 | 0 |
| Q3 2025 | 7 | $622.1M | 0 | 6 |
| Q4 2025 | 7 | $324.6M | 0 | 4 |
| Q1 2026 | 11 | $449.4M | 0 | 9 |
| Q2 2026 | 8 | $133.6M | 0 | 4 |
| All quarters | 34 | $372.8M | 0 | 23 |
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, compares the main business model options for hyperscale data center operators
How concentrated was funding activity in the data center market?
Data center market funding was highly concentrated because the three largest rounds represented at least 81.9% of capital in every quarter with several deals. The largest transaction alone represented between 36.7% and 60.5% of quarterly funding.
This concentration means that quarterly data center funding totals can rise or fall sharply even when the number of smaller infrastructure deals remains stable.
| Quarter | Number of deals | Top 1 share | Top 3 share | Top 10 share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 1 | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Q3 2025 | 7 | 36.7% | 91.8% | 100.0% |
| Q4 2025 | 7 | 60.5% | 94.0% | 100.0% |
| Q1 2026 | 11 | 40.5% | 87.0% | 99.7% |
| Q2 2026 | 8 | 47.2% | 81.9% | 100.0% |
| All quarters | 34 | 15.8% | 44.2% | 85.5% |
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, shows the revenue mix across customer segments in the data center market
Which categories in the data center market received the most funding?
Hyperscale data center operators raised $10.64 billion, or 84.0% of total funding, because building large campuses requires land, construction, grid connections and major power commitments. Large operators also need capital before customer capacity becomes available.
Modular data center companies raised $461 million across three deals. Investors supported modular construction because factories can produce standardized facilities faster than traditional on-site projects.
Power infrastructure companies raised $418 million across ten deals. The large number of power deals shows that electricity access, conversion and backup systems have become central parts of the data center market.
| Category name | Number of deals | Total raised ($) | Startups and amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyperscale operators | 10 | $10.64B | Vantage Data Centers ($1.60B), Princeton Digital Group ($1.30B), Nscale ($1.10B, $433M and $2.00B), Firmus ($327M and $505M), Crusoe ($1.375B) and DayOne Data Centers ($2.00B+) |
| Modular data centers | 3 | $461M | Armada ($131M and $230M) and EPG ($100M+) |
| Power infrastructure | 10 | $418M | Exowatt ($35M), Aalo Atomics ($100M), Amperesand ($80M), ZincFive ($30M), C2i Semiconductors ($15M), DG Matrix ($60M), Claros ($30M), EPIC Microsystems ($21M), TAR ($27M) and Aston Power ($20M) |
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, shows how hyperscale AI-ready campus technology has evolved over time
Who are the biggest investors in the data center market?
NVIDIA was the most active disclosed investor, with five deals involving Nscale, Crusoe and Firmus. NVIDIA benefits when more AI-ready data center capacity becomes available.
Dell Technologies participated in three Nscale rounds worth a combined $3.53 billion. Dell Technologies has a direct interest in supporting large AI infrastructure deployments.
Nokia also participated in three Nscale rounds. Nokia can support the connectivity and infrastructure requirements of large AI data center campuses.
Fidelity participated in three disclosed rounds involving Nscale, Crusoe and Frore Systems, covering both data center operators and cooling technology.
Founders Fund participated in three rounds involving Armada and Crusoe, with a focus on new data center development and modular capacity.
Aker participated in two Nscale rounds worth a combined $3.10 billion, making Aker an important backer of Nscale's international campus strategy.
Point72 participated in two Nscale rounds worth a combined $3.10 billion.
Coatue participated in the DayOne and Firmus rounds, which together raised at least $2.51 billion for hyperscale data center expansion.
Blue Owl Capital participated in two Nscale rounds worth a combined $1.53 billion.
StepStone Group participated in the Crusoe and Frore Systems rounds, connecting large data center development with advanced cooling infrastructure.
Disclaimer: this investor list may be incomplete; we focus on publicly disclosed lead and prominent recurring investors, so some frequent minority participants may be underrepresented. “Total funded” does not represent the amount personally invested by an individual investor. Instead, it refers to the aggregate amount raised across all fundraising rounds in which the investor participated.
| Investor | Number of deals | Total funded ($) | Startups |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA | 5 | $5.41B | Nscale three times, Crusoe and Firmus |
| Dell Technologies | 3 | $3.53B | Nscale three times |
| Nokia | 3 | $3.53B | Nscale three times |
| Fidelity | 3 | $2.62B | Nscale, Crusoe and Frore Systems |
| Founders Fund | 3 | $1.74B | Armada twice and Crusoe |
| Aker | 2 | $3.10B | Nscale twice |
| Point72 | 2 | $3.10B | Nscale twice |
| Coatue | 2 | $2.51B | DayOne Data Centers and Firmus |
| Blue Owl Capital | 2 | $1.53B | Nscale twice |
| StepStone Group | 2 | $1.52B | Crusoe and Frore Systems |
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, shows how AI workload growth has driven growth in the data center market over time
Related blog posts
- A complete list of funding deals in the data center market
- The startups that have raised the most funding in the data center market
- How strong is fundraising in the data center market right now?
