Lambda to Raise $4B at $14.5B Valuation Ahead of Planned 2027 IPO

AI cloud provider Lambda is raising up to $4 billion at a $14.5 billion pre-money valuation, according to The Wall Street Journal, in what could be its final private round before a planned 2027 IPO. Coatue Management and Blackstone are leading the round. An investor letter reviewed by the Journal shows Lambda's backlog grew from $15 billion in June to $50 billion in September, largely driven by a $35 billion commitment from Anthropic signed in late August, raising concentration concerns. Data center buildouts are largely debt-funded, and Lambda raised an additional $1 billion last week. The raise sets the tone for IPO pricing and provides capital before public market scrutiny. Lambda would join Nvidia-backed neoclouds CoreWeave and Nebius in relying on stock performance to fund expansion. UK-based Nscale filed for an IPO last month. Lambda, Coatue and Blackstone did not immediately respond to requests for comment.