AI computing startup Lambda to raise $4B ahead of planned IPO

Lambda, a cloud provider that supplies GPU capacity for AI workloads, is lining up as much as $4 billion in private financing at a $14.5 billion pre-money valuation, The Wall Street Journal reported. Coatue Management and Blackstone are leading the round, which the company expects could be its final private raise before a planned 2027 initial public offering. A letter to investors reviewed by the Journal showed Lambda’s backlog jumped from $15 billion in June to $50 billion in September. That increase is largely attributable to a single $35 billion commitment from one customer, identified in reporting as Anthropic, which signed a deal with Lambda in late August. The concentration of new orders on one counterparty could make future revenue and valuation more dependent on that customer’s continued payments. Lambda has been expanding data center capacity to meet demand for GPUs, a process that is typically financed with debt. The company recently secured an additional $1 billion of debt financing, according to the Journal, but the piece notes lenders have become more selective about whom they will fund and on what terms. Raising equity now would give Lambda more capital ahead of the increased disclosure and scrutiny that comes with public markets and could influence its IPO pricing. If Lambda moves forward with a 2027 IPO, it would join other Nvidia-backed specialized cloud providers such as CoreWeave and Nebius that rely on public-market health to support their data center buildouts. The Journal also noted that British neocloud Nscale filed for an IPO last month. Lambda, Coatue and Blackstone did not immediately respond to requests for comment, per the report.