AI computing startup Lambda to raise $4B ahead of planned IPO — SkimNews
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- Lambda is raising up to $4 billion at a $14.5 billion pre-money valuation in what could be its last private round before a planned 2027 IPO, with Coatue Management and Blackstone leading the round.
- Lambda's backlog jumped from $15 billion in June to $50 billion in September, though $35 billion of that stems from a single late-August deal with Anthropic — meaning the eye-popping growth figure rests largely on one counterparty.
- Lambda raised an additional $1 billion in debt last week to fund data center buildouts, as lenders grow choosier about which neoclouds they finance and on what terms.
- Lambda was reportedly meant to debut this year but pushed its IPO back amid market uncertainty, joining Nscale (which filed for an IPO last month and is expected to begin trading soon) and other Nvidia-backed neoclouds whose data-center buildouts now depend on stock-market health.
- CoreWeave and Nebius, also Nvidia-backed peers, now fund buildouts in part via their public stock — a structural dependence Lambda would inherit upon listing.
Why it matters: Lambda's $14.5 billion pre-money tag is underwritten by a single $35 billion Anthropic contract that accounts for 70% of its stated $50 billion backlog, so the company's IPO valuation will hinge on whether public-market investors accept concentration risk that private backers were willing to overlook.
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