Latham, Milbank lead on British data centre startup Nscale’s $35bn New York IPO

Latham & Watkins and Milbank have landed lead roles on the planned New York listing of British AI data centre startup Nscale, which is reportedly seeking a valuation of up to $35 billion.

Latham is advising Nscale on the IPO, while Milbank is acting for the underwriters.

The London-based company recently filed to list on the New York Stock Exchange and is reportedly looking to raise as much as $3 billion, in what would be a major test of investor appetite for the companies building the infrastructure behind the AI boom.

Nscale has grown rapidly since being spun out of an Australian bitcoin mining group in 2024.

It has raised more than $3 billion across multiple funding rounds over the past 12 months, with both Latham and Milbank regularly advising the company. Its Series B and Series C were each the largest funding rounds by a European company.

AI infrastructure boom

Nscale builds and operates the computing infrastructure needed to run AI models. It currently has five active data centres - three in Norway and one each in Portugal and Iceland - with another 12 under development.

Nvidia is among its backers, while its board includes former Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and former UK deputy prime minister turned tech executive Nick Clegg.

The company reported revenue of $140.6 million in the first six months of the year, up from $10.4 million a year earlier, according to its IPO filing. Its net loss widened from $368.9 million to $1.02 billion over the same period.

The company employs around 450 people in the UK and plans to remain domiciled in Britain despite choosing New York for its listing.

Founder Josh Payne, 32, could also reportedly be in line for performance-related payouts worth up to $350 million following the listing. His compensation package was $23 million last year.

Big Law roles

Latham's team is led by London partner Jenn Engelhardt alongside New York partners Michael Benjamin, Ian Schuman and Adam Gelardi.

The firm has already worked on some of Nscale's biggest financings. Most recently, Latham advised the company on a $790 million financing for one of its Norwegian data centres, with Engelhardt also working on that deal.

Milbank is advising the banks underwriting the IPO, with a team including London-based partner David Dixter, and New York partners Rod Miller and Jaime Ramirez.

The lead underwriters are Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.