AI firm Neysa to raise $1.2 billion from Blackstone, others in debt-equity mix
The company has raised $600 million in equity capital, and Neysa is seeking to secure an additional $600 million in debt financing led by Blackstone. Other equity investors in this transaction include Teachers’ Venture Growth, TVS Capital, 360 ONE Assets and Nexus Ventures.
The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s growth trajectory and provide a material impetus to Neysa’s planned scaling and deployment of over 20,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) in India as demand for AI-led services grows.
Founded in 2023 by Sharad Sanghi, who also serves as chief executive officer (CEO), Neysa designs and develops artificial intelligence systems deployed and operated in India. The company provides purpose-built and affordable GPU-based AI infrastructure that enables organizations and institutions to train, fine-tune and deploy AI workloads. Its customers span industries such as financial services, technology, healthcare and utilities.
“India’s AI ambition requires building and operating production-grade infrastructure at scale. Neysa focuses on enabling the execution layer of independent computing and enabling and adoption of AI research in line with the objectives of the India AI Mission,” Sanghi said. He added that the company aims to provide performance certainty and data assurance to enable enterprises, hyperscalers and global AI labs to deploy and scale reliable AI infrastructure in India.
“In addition to this, we will also build capabilities around orchestration, observability and security platforms. With the Blackstone partnership, we aim to expand beyond the Indian market by leveraging data centers in Asia (AirTrunk) and globally (QTS),” Sanghi said. he said. Mint.
Take advantage of tax holidays, global expertise
Global cloud service providers are considering setting up inference clusters in India to target not only the Indian market but also regional markets, especially after the budget announced a tax holiday.
Earlier this month, the Union government suggested that a foreign company providing cloud services globally while leveraging data center services based in India will be eligible for a tax holiday extending up to 2047. “This has encouraged companies, including large hyperscalers, to build deeper infrastructure in India, and we want to tap into this market,” Sanghi explained.
“India is fast catching up with the AI infrastructure and deployment landscape. There is a lot of potential in the AI space with smaller and even vertical-specific models. The agency space also bodes well for India and infrastructure will be a result of deployment,” Sanghi said, adding that more companies will be set up in India for India and the world.
Although he did not disclose specific details about the company’s performance, Sanghi predicted that the company will more than triple its revenues next year, driven by demand and growth across sectors.
Neysa will further benefit from Blackstone’s experience in scaling critical infrastructure as the global investment firm’s other subsidiaries invest significantly in the underlying tools, infrastructure and technologies that enable the development and adoption of artificial intelligence. It has invested in the world’s largest data center platform QTS, Asia Pacific-based data center firm AirTrunk, specialist cloud infrastructure company CoreWeave, and Australia-based artificial intelligence infrastructure platform Firmus.
Ganesh Mani, senior managing director at Blackstone Private Equity, said: “Digital infrastructure is one of our highest-conviction investment themes globally. This investment positions Neysa to play a meaningful role in developing AI infrastructure in India, enabling businesses and public institutions to use AI technologies more effectively as AI adoption accelerates.”
The path to 30x growth
Mani also added that India is at an inflection point and has the potential to grow more than 30 times from current levels. “As a result, we have always been looking to fund assets in the AI space in India. With Neysa, this will be our platform to integrate other investments we will make in this segment, including neoclouds and GPU deployment. This will happen through Neysa under Sharad’s leadership.”
Amit Dixit, Blackstone’s head of private equity for Asia, added that the investment reinforces the private equity firm’s focus on supporting the key ‘picks and shovels’ of AI globally, including in India, a key market.
Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, has approximately $1.3 trillion in assets under management, which includes global investment strategies focused on real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth capital, secondary assets and hedge funds.
DC Advisory served as lead financial advisor to Neysa and KPMG advised Blackstone.
