Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, could make approximately £30m ($40m) from the planned US stock market flotation of Nscale, a UK-based datacentre company. Clegg, who is a board member, owns more than 917,000 shares in the startup.
Nscale is reportedly seeking a valuation of up to $35bn in its flotation. Based on Clegg's 0.12% stake, this could value his holding at about $42m. However, Nscale's last funding round valued the company at $14.6bn, which would imply a lower valuation of approximately $18m for Clegg's stake.
The company filed papers for its US flotation on 18 September and could make its stock market debut before the end of the year. Nscale reported a loss of $1bn in the six months to 30 June, on revenues of $140m, attributing these losses to substantial investments in a capital-intensive business.
Nscale's chief executive, Josh Payne, stated the company sees a significant opportunity in sovereign AI, where countries develop their own models and infrastructure to reduce reliance on US or Chinese technology. Payne added that Nscale is well positioned to serve this demand, particularly in Europe, due to its British domicile.