What are the latest funding news in the data center market? (September 2026)
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Data center funding remained concentrated in large-scale AI capacity projects, with $4.07B disclosed across the 12 financings tracked through September 2026.
Firmus alone accounted for $2B, while new capital also backed orbital, offshore, modular, and edge data center infrastructure.
Power and cooling remained important investment themes, as developers prepared facilities for denser AI workloads.
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Insights
- The 12 disclosed data center market financings totaled $4.07B, but the four largest rounds represented about 83% of that figure, showing how strongly capital favored projects with credible large-scale capacity plans.
- Firmus, Volta Infra, Fluidstack, Starcloud, Armada, and Panthalassa collectively raised at least $3.75B for physical capacity, confirming that investors are financing infrastructure delivery rather than only AI software.
- August 2026 accounted for $2.55B of disclosed funding, led by Firmus, Volta Infra, and Starcloud, making it the clear high point of the period for data center investment.
- Cooling-focused companies raised $191M across Omen AI, ZutaCore, Orbital Industries, and Barocal, highlighting that thermal management is becoming a core constraint in high-density AI data centers.
- Several companies are addressing power scarcity directly, from TAR's behind-the-meter generation systems to Volta Infra's powered land strategy and Firmus's vertically integrated AI factories.
- The market is expanding beyond conventional campuses, with Starcloud pursuing orbital facilities, Panthalassa developing offshore capacity, and Armada deploying modular edge data centers.
- Large rounds increasingly fund deployment assets such as land, power, manufacturing, cooling equipment, and contracted capacity, which makes data center fundraising more capital intensive than a typical enterprise software round.
As this chart shows, and as featured in our data center market deck, search interest in data centers has increased significantly
Summary table of the latest funding deals in the data center market as of September 2026
We define the data center market as the market for delivering and operating physical data center capacity (space, power, and cooling) used to host computing equipment.
We include colocation providers and hyperscale facilities (owned or leased) and the facility infrastructure required to power and cool IT loads.
We exclude the IT equipment and software inside the facility (servers/GPUs, storage, networking, 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.
We also have a quarter-by-quarter analysis of funding activity in the market here.
Finally, you can check our complete list of fundraising deals for the data center market (we update this list every quarter) as well as our ranking of the most funded startups.
| Name | When | Amount in $ | Round Type | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPG | 31 March 2026 | More than $100M | Series B+ | Modular Facility Infrastructure & Power and Cooling |
| Panthalassa | 4 May 2026 | $140M | Series B | Offshore Data Center Facilities |
| Barocal | 6 May 2026 | $10M | Seed | Data Center Cooling Infrastructure |
| Armada | 19 May 2026 | $230M | Series B | Modular Edge Data Center Facilities |
| Orbital Industries | 28 May 2026 | $50M | Series B | Data Center Cooling Infrastructure |
| ZutaCore | 2 June 2026 | $100M | Series C | Data Center Cooling Infrastructure |
| TAR | 15 June 2026 | $27M | Seed | Data Center Power Infrastructure |
| Omen AI | 30 June 2026 | $31M | Series A | Data Center Cooling Monitoring |
| Fluidstack | 20 July 2026 | $830M | Series A | AI Data Center Capacity |
| Volta Infra | 4 August 2026 | $300M | Seed & Series A | Hyperscale AI Data Center Development |
| Firmus | 7 August 2026 | $2B | Strategic Equity Financing | Hyperscale Data Center Facilities |
| Starcloud | 21 August 2026 | $250M | Series A Extension | Orbital Data Center Facilities |
All the latest funding deals during in the data center market as of September 2026
Starcloud raised $250M in August 2026 for orbital data center infrastructure.
When was it?
Starcloud announced the funding extension on 21 August 2026.
Who are they?
Starcloud develops orbital data center platforms with dedicated solar power and thermal systems for high-density computing in space.
Geographical focus?
Starcloud is based in the United States and is building capacity intended to serve global customers from orbit.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
Starcloud belongs in the data center market because its satellites are designed as physical facilities that provide compute capacity, power, and cooling infrastructure.
What is the company stage?
Starcloud was at the Series A, prototype-to-deployment stage, with manufacturing and launch preparations underway.
How much did they raise?
Starcloud raised $250M in the extension financing.
What round is it?
The investment was a Series A extension.
Why did they raise?
Starcloud raised the capital to expand manufacturing capacity, advance Starcloud-3, and secure launch and deployment infrastructure.
Firmus raised $2B in August 2026 to expand AI data center capacity.
When was it?
Firmus announced the strategic equity financing on 7 August 2026.
Who are they?
Firmus designs and operates AI factories that integrate high-density computing, power systems, and liquid cooling infrastructure.
Geographical focus?
Firmus focuses on Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region, including projects in Australia and Singapore.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
Firmus belongs in the data center market because its AI factories are physical hyperscale facilities built to host and operate AI workloads.
What is the company stage?
Firmus was at a late-growth stage, with large-scale AI factory deployments already in progress.
How much did they raise?
Firmus raised $2B in strategic equity financing.
What round is it?
The transaction was a strategic equity financing rather than a conventional numbered venture round.
Why did they raise?
Firmus raised the capital to accelerate Nvidia AI factory expansion across Australia and Asia-Pacific.
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, compares the main business model options for hyperscale data center operators
Volta Infra raised $300M in August 2026 for powered AI data center campuses.
When was it?
Volta Infra announced its combined seed and Series A financing on 4 August 2026.
Who are they?
Volta Infra finances and develops AI data center campuses, including powered land, connectivity, and dedicated compute infrastructure.
Geographical focus?
Volta Infra targets Europe and North America, with its first reported project located in Norway.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
Volta Infra belongs in the data center market because it develops the power, land, and physical campuses needed for hyperscale AI capacity.
What is the company stage?
Volta Infra was a launch-stage company with substantial financing and large project development plans.
How much did they raise?
Volta Infra raised $300M across its seed and Series A rounds.
What round is it?
The financing combined a seed round and a Series A round.
Why did they raise?
Volta Infra raised the capital to finance powered land, data center development, and dedicated capacity for large AI customers.
Fluidstack raised $830M in July 2026 to deliver AI data center capacity.
When was it?
Fluidstack announced its Series A round on 20 July 2026.
Who are they?
Fluidstack develops and operates high-density AI data centers for large customers that need contracted compute capacity.
Geographical focus?
Fluidstack operates across Europe and North America, with major data center delivery activity in the United States.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
Fluidstack belongs in the data center market because it acquires power, builds facilities, and operates physical AI computing capacity.
What is the company stage?
Fluidstack was at a growth stage, with large AI infrastructure projects moving into deployment.
How much did they raise?
Fluidstack raised $830M in the financing.
What round is it?
The financing was a Series A round.
Why did they raise?
Fluidstack raised the capital to finance data center construction and contracted AI capacity deployments.
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, shows how Equinix is capturing share in data centers
Omen AI raised $31M in June 2026 for data center coolant monitoring.
When was it?
Omen AI announced its Series A funding on 30 June 2026.
Who are they?
Omen AI provides real-time fluid monitoring systems that track coolant condition in liquid-cooled data center equipment.
Geographical focus?
Omen AI is based in the United States and serves global markets for high-density data center cooling.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
Omen AI belongs in the data center market because its monitoring systems support cooling reliability in high-density facilities.
What is the company stage?
Omen AI was at the Series A commercial-growth stage.
How much did they raise?
Omen AI raised $31M in the round.
What round is it?
The financing was a Series A round led by Nava Ventures.
Why did they raise?
Omen AI raised the capital to commercialize continuous fluid intelligence across more data centers and industrial cooling systems.
TAR raised $27M in June 2026 for behind-the-meter data center power.
When was it?
TAR announced the seed funding on 15 June 2026.
Who are they?
TAR builds modular behind-the-meter power systems that combine solar, batteries, wind, and backup generation for data centers.
Geographical focus?
TAR focuses on the United States, where data center developers face growing power availability constraints.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
TAR belongs in the data center market because its onsite energy systems directly provide power infrastructure for data center facilities.
What is the company stage?
TAR was at a seed-stage pilot deployment phase.
How much did they raise?
TAR raised $27M in seed funding.
What round is it?
The financing was a seed round.
Why did they raise?
TAR raised the capital to deploy plug-and-play onsite power systems and expand toward hundreds of megawatts of capacity.
In our data center market deck, we identify pain points entrepreneurs should prioritize
ZutaCore raised $100M in June 2026 to scale direct-to-chip liquid cooling.
When was it?
ZutaCore announced its Series C round on 2 June 2026.
Who are they?
ZutaCore builds direct-to-chip liquid cooling systems for high-density data center servers and AI infrastructure.
Geographical focus?
ZutaCore serves global data center operators and equipment partners.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
ZutaCore belongs in the data center market because liquid cooling is essential facility infrastructure for dense AI computing loads.
What is the company stage?
ZutaCore was at a commercial-growth stage with deployments expanding internationally.
How much did they raise?
ZutaCore raised $100M in the round.
What round is it?
The financing was a Series C round.
Why did they raise?
ZutaCore raised the capital to expand manufacturing, deployment capacity, and international sales.
Orbital Industries raised $50M in May 2026 for thermal data center infrastructure.
When was it?
Orbital Industries announced its Series B funding on 28 May 2026.
Who are they?
Orbital Industries develops cooling fluids and modular thermal infrastructure for data center facilities.
Geographical focus?
Orbital Industries focuses on North American data center and industrial cooling deployments.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
Orbital Industries belongs in the data center market because its products support the facility cooling systems used by high-density data centers.
What is the company stage?
Orbital Industries was at the Series B commercial-growth stage.
How much did they raise?
Orbital Industries raised $50M in the round.
What round is it?
The financing was a Series B round.
Why did they raise?
Orbital Industries raised the capital to scale cooling technology and facility deployments.
This market map, featured in our data center market deck, highlights top companies and startups in the data center market
Armada raised $230M in May 2026 to deploy modular edge data centers.
When was it?
Armada announced its Series B financing on 19 May 2026.
Who are they?
Armada builds modular edge data centers that combine power, cooling, and computing infrastructure in deployable units.
Geographical focus?
Armada focuses on the United States and remote or distributed locations that need local data center capacity.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
Armada belongs in the data center market because its physical modules provide packaged facility capacity with integrated power and cooling.
What is the company stage?
Armada was at a growth stage with commercial modular data center deployments.
How much did they raise?
Armada raised $230M in the financing.
What round is it?
The financing was a Series B round.
Why did they raise?
Armada raised the capital to manufacture and deploy more modular edge data centers.
Barocal raised $10M in May 2026 to advance solid-state data center cooling.
When was it?
Barocal announced its seed round on 6 May 2026.
Who are they?
Barocal develops solid-state cooling technology for efficient thermal management in data centers and other cooling-intensive environments.
Geographical focus?
Barocal is based in the United Kingdom and targets global cooling markets.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
Barocal belongs in the data center market because its cooling hardware can reduce thermal constraints in high-density facilities.
What is the company stage?
Barocal was a seed-stage, pre-commercial company.
How much did they raise?
Barocal raised $10M in seed funding.
What round is it?
The financing was a seed round.
Why did they raise?
Barocal raised the capital to advance hardware development, testing, and commercialization.
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, illustrates yearly funding for data center startups
Panthalassa raised $140M in May 2026 to develop offshore data centers.
When was it?
Panthalassa announced its Series B round on 4 May 2026.
Who are they?
Panthalassa develops offshore data center capacity that uses marine locations for power and cooling advantages.
Geographical focus?
Panthalassa targets global coastal markets where offshore infrastructure can support large computing loads.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
Panthalassa belongs in the data center market because it develops physical offshore facilities that host computing equipment and manage facility cooling.
What is the company stage?
Panthalassa was at the Series B project-development stage.
How much did they raise?
Panthalassa raised $140M in the financing.
What round is it?
The financing was a Series B round.
Why did they raise?
Panthalassa raised the capital to develop and deploy offshore data center projects.
EPG raised more than $100M in March 2026 for modular data center systems.
When was it?
EPG announced its Series B+ financing on 31 March 2026.
Who are they?
EPG manufactures prefabricated modular data center systems that integrate facility power and cooling infrastructure.
Geographical focus?
EPG operates across Singapore, China, and Malaysia while serving data center customers globally.
Why do we include them in the data center market?
EPG belongs in the data center market because it supplies modular physical infrastructure used to build and expand AI data center facilities.
What is the company stage?
EPG was at a growth stage with global manufacturing expansion underway.
How much did they raise?
EPG raised more than $100M in the financing.
What round is it?
The financing was a Series B+ round.
Why did they raise?
EPG raised the capital to expand research, manufacturing, and delivery capacity for global AI data center projects.
Related blog posts
- How funding activity has evolved in the data center market
- What are the fundraising trends in the data center market?
- How strong is fundraising in the data center market right now?
- What are the top startups in the data center market?
- A complete list of funding deals in the data center market
