Few companies attract AI capital at Firmus Technologies’ pace while staying this far from the spotlight. The Australian startup, which builds the data center infrastructure that models train and run on, has now collected $2B in fresh equity at a valuation above $10.5B, nearly twice its April mark of $5.5B. Nvidia and Coatue Management returned with follow-on checks, joined by Blackstone-managed funds and Jane Street.
The company’s business sits behind the scenes of the AI boom. Instead of building models or consumer apps, it constructs the physical data center capacity that models run on. The fresh capital speeds up Project Southgate, its flagship effort to build large-scale AI training and inference infrastructure across Australia, and supports an early-stage development in Indonesia aimed at AI-native customers.
Co-CEO Oliver Curtis said the investment lets the company advance on multiple fronts at once, scaling in Australia while expanding across the Asia-Pacific region with backing from Coatue, Nvidia, Blackstone and Jane Street.
The round follows a Blackstone-led $10B financing package announced in February for the company’s Australian data center network. The rapid mark-up from $5.5B to $10.5B shows how fast capital is consolidating behind the physical layer of AI, even for companies that operate largely out of the public eye.
