Nebius Secures $700M in Private Equity Funding to Accelerate AI Infrastructure Growth

Amsterdam-based Nebius, a full-stack AI infrastructure provider, has raised $700 million in private equity funding led by Nvidia, Accel, and Orbis Asset Management. The financing comes through a private placement, with the company issuing 33.3 million Class A shares at $21 each.

Driving AI Innovation Across Continents

Previously the European arm of Yandex, dubbed "Russia's Google," Nebius has rebranded and refocused on AI infrastructure. It plans to invest over $1 billion in Europe by mid-2025 and recently unveiled plans to establish its first GPU cluster in the US.

“We’ve shown the scale of our ambitions by launching AI infrastructure projects across two continents,” said Arkady Volozh, Nebius founder and CEO. “This strategic funding empowers us to expand faster and at a greater scale.”

Nebius’ growth strategy includes building custom data centers, upgrading existing facilities—such as its advanced Finland data center—and deploying capacity through colocation services.

Emerging from Yandex’s Legacy

Volozh envisions Nebius as a "Phoenix rising" from Yandex's remains after its $5.4 billion divestment from Russia earlier this year. The divestment marked the largest corporate exit from Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began over two years ago.

Nebius’ AI-Driven Cloud Platform

The company’s flagship product is an AI-centric cloud platform optimized for intense AI workloads. Nebius is also among the launch partners for Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs, although Volozh clarified that this funding is not tied to GPU access.

“The deal isn’t about GPUs,” Volozh told Bloomberg, “but it reflects our strong relationship with Nvidia, which we hope will benefit our pipeline.”

Riding the AI Infrastructure Boom

The global AI infrastructure market is projected to skyrocket from $46.15 billion in 2024 to $356.14 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. As demand for AI compute surges, competitors like CoreWeave are also attracting significant attention, with the US-based firm preparing for an IPO that could value it at $35 billion.

Nebius’ $700 million funding positions it to compete in this booming market, leveraging its advanced infrastructure and ambitious growth plans to solidify its role as a leader in the AI revolution.