Nebius Secures $700 Million for US Expansion
Nebius, formerly Yandex N.V., has raised $700 million to expand its AI infrastructure business in the United States. The funding round included investments from Nvidia, Accel, and Orbis, among others. This comes after Nebius resumed trading on Nasdaq following a nearly three-year hiatus due to sanctions against Russia-affiliated companies.
The company plans to use the funds to expand its data center footprint, using a hybrid approach of co-location facilities and building its own sites. This expansion puts them in direct competition with cloud hyperscalers and well-financed private players like CoreWeave, which is also backed by Nvidia. Nebius is expanding into the US while CoreWeave is moving into Europe. For related news on funding, see Upwind Raises $100M Series A, Hits $900M Valuation.
Following the sale of its Russian assets, Nebius had around $2.2 billion, a portion of which was allocated for a buy-back program for existing investors. However, with the stock trading above the buy-back price, the offer is no longer necessary, freeing up more capital for expansion. With approximately $3 billion available, Nebius aims to build infrastructure at scale and anticipates raising more capital in the future, through equity or debt. This is similar to Omri Casspi Launches $60M Swish Ventures Fund.
The company has updated its financial forecast, expecting to reach an annualized run rate of $750 million to $1 billion by the end of 2025. As part of the deal, Accel partner Matt Weigand will join Nebius’s board of directors as an observer until formally elected in 2025.