Nscale, a U.K.-based AI data center startup founded two years ago, has appointed Fidji Simo to its board of directors ahead of an anticipated fall IPO and a planned $3.5 billion capital raise.
Simo departed OpenAI in July after serving as CEO of AGI deployment, effectively the company's No. 2 executive. She continues to advise OpenAI on a part-time basis. Before that, she led Instacart through its 2023 IPO and spent more than a decade at Meta, where she ran the Facebook application.
Founder and CEO Josh Payne said Simo represents a rare combination: executives who have scaled products to billions of users and understand the infrastructure demands that creates. "We've deliberately constructed our board with individuals who possess experience scaling platforms to the largest in the world, alongside independence, financial rigor, and operating depth," Payne said.
Simo joins directors including Sheryl Sandberg, Susan Decker, and Nick Clegg. She also holds a board seat at Shopify.
Nscale designs and operates AI data centers. The company's valuation has risen sharply as demand for AI compute infrastructure surged. The planned IPO will test whether specialized infrastructure providers command public market multiples comparable to their hyperscaler customers—or whether investors view them as commodity suppliers facing margin pressure from larger competitors.
