From TechCrunch · Kirsten Korosec · · 1m 30s
Nscale stacks its board before an IPO
A UK data center startup two years old just put OpenAI's former No. 2 on its board, right before going public.
In brief
A UK data center startup two years old just put OpenAI's former No. 2 on its board, right before going public. Nscale is assembling IPO-grade board credibility as fast as it is building data centers, because the AI infrastructure money now expects both. Originally reported by TechCrunch.
A new name on the board
Nscale, the UK AI data center startup, has appointed Fidji Simo to its board. She previously held senior roles at OpenAI, Meta, and Instacart.
She joins heavy company
Simo sits alongside Sheryl Sandberg, Susan Decker, and Nick Clegg. The board is being stacked ahead of an IPO expected this fall.
OpenAI's former number two
Simo was CEO of AGI deployment at OpenAI, effectively the second most senior person at the lab. She left in July citing health reasons and still advises part time.
She has taken a company public
Before OpenAI, Simo was chair and CEO of Instacart and led its 2023 IPO. She also spent over a decade at Meta running the Facebook app, and sits on Shopify's board.
Why the CEO wanted her
Founder Josh Payne said few leaders understand what it takes to scale products used by billions, and what that demands of the systems underneath.
“Fidji joins a board we've built deliberately, with the experience of scaling platforms to the largest in the world”
Two years to $3.5 billion
Founded in 2024, Nscale designs, builds, and runs AI data centers. Bloomberg reports it is trying to raise up to $3.5 billion before the planned IPO.
The essence
Nscale is assembling IPO-grade board credibility as fast as it is building data centers, because the AI infrastructure money now expects both.
