AI data center startup Fluidstack reportedly in talks for $1B round at $18B valuation

Fluidstack, a startup building specialized data centers for AI companies, is reportedly in talks to raise a $1 billion funding round at an $18 billion valuation, potentially led by Jane Street according to Bloomberg. The deal would more than double the company's valuation in a matter of months. In December, Fluidstack was reportedly raising around $700 million at a $7.5 billion valuation, with that round said to be led by AGI-focused fund Situational Awareness and backed by Stripe's Collison brothers, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and investor Daniel Gross. Google was considering contributing $100 million to the round as recently as February. The company gained significant momentum after Anthropic announced a $50 billion deal with Fluidstack in November to build custom data centers in Texas and New York. Unlike hyperscalers like AWS that serve various computing needs, Fluidstack's infrastructure is specifically designed for AI workloads, giving Anthropic more control over its cloud infrastructure as it rapidly expands. The partnership prompted Fluidstack. originally spun out of Oxford University and a rising star in Europe's AI scene. to relocate its headquarters from the U.K. to New York. The startup also withdrew from a €10 billion AI project in France last month to focus on U.S. opportunities. In addition to Anthropic, Fluidstack counts Meta, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, and others as customers.