{"id":146863,"date":"2025-09-16T07:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T07:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/146863\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T07:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T07:27:08","slug":"ai-factory-startup-firmus-raises-330-million-at-1-9-billion-valuation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/146863\/","title":{"rendered":"AI factory startup Firmus raises $330 million at $1.9 billion valuation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Firmus Technologies has become the latest Australian-founded startup to reach unicorn status, after the artificial intelligence infrastructure company raised $330 million in a round backed by US chip giant Nvidia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Local investor Ellerston Capital has also invested in the Singapore-based company, which was founded by Australian entrepreneurs Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield and Jonathan Levee and previously headquartered in Tasmania.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The investment gives Firmus a valuation of $1.9 billion, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afr.com\/technology\/nvidia-backs-australian-ai-factory-firmus-with-1-9b-valuation-20250915-p5mv0v\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">The Australian Financial Review<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Firmus plans to use the funding to build one of its self-described \u2018AI factories\u2019 in Tasmania. The large-scale data centre campus will house the company\u2019s software and cooling technology, which is used to train and operate AI systems.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tRelated Article Block Placeholder<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tArticle ID: 303970\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcompany.com.au\/artificial-intelligence\/jensen-huang-nvidia-salesforce-ai-artificial-intelligence\/\" class=\"\" target=\"_self\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"145\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20240828185498507142-original-1.jpg\" class=\"aspect-video object-cover h-auto w-[141px] md:w-[216px]\" alt=\"Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says next-gen AI will be more like \u201conboarding employees\u201d than coding\"  \/>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The involvement of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcompany.com.au\/artificial-intelligence\/jensen-huang-nvidia-salesforce-ai-artificial-intelligence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Nvidia<\/a>, which has a market valuation of US$4.3 trillion and is the most valuable company in the world, is being seen as a coup for Firmus, which is planning to list publicly in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\tSmarter business news. Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>\n                            For startup founders, small businesses and leaders. Build sharper instincts and better strategy by learning from Australia\u2019s smartest business minds. Sign up for free.                        <\/p>\n<p>By continuing, you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcompany.com.au\/terms-conditions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Terms &amp; Conditions<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcompany.com.au\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Firmus was also backed in this round by existing investors Phil King\u2019s Regal Funds Management, Archibald Capital and Tectonic Investment Management, while Alex Waislitz and the Pratt family are also shareholders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFirmus is pioneering a new era of efficient AI deployment, and we\u2019re excited to lead this raise as they expand their sovereign infrastructure footprint,\u201d said Ellerston Capital investment director David Leslie, who is set to join the Firmus board.<\/p>\n<p>From bitcoin mining to AI data centres<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Firmus now sits among a select number of private Australian companies that are valued above $1 billion, including Canva, Rokt and Airwallex. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its $330 million funding round also represents one of the largest equity capital raises in Australia by a private technology company in 2025, following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcompany.com.au\/startupsmart\/airwallex-10-billion-valuation-historic-466-million-series-f-raise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Airwallex\u2019s $466 million Series F round in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Firmus was founded in 2019, three years after co-founder and co-CEO Curtis was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afr.com\/politics\/oliver-curtis-found-guilty-of-insider-trading-20160527-gp5yqf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">found guilty of insider trading in 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The startup originally focused on cooling technology for computers used in bitcoin mining, before pivoting to cooling technology and management systems needed for AI data centres. It claims its technology allows its data centres to use up to 60% less energy than its competitors. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur mission is to create the most efficient AI infrastructure,\u201d Rosenfield told the AFR. <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tRelated Article Block Placeholder<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tArticle ID: 320806\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcompany.com.au\/artificial-intelligence\/australian-green-ai-big-tech-emissions-xylo-systems-wollemi\/\" class=\"\" target=\"_self\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Copy-of-SCM-ed-image-1920x1080-9.png\" class=\"aspect-video object-cover h-auto w-[141px] md:w-[216px]\" alt=\"Neural Notes: These Aussie startups are rewriting the green AI standard\"  \/>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur founding challenge was to convert energy to knowledge more cost-effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company is expected to continue raising capital ahead of a slated ASX listing next year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the meantime, Firmus plans to commence the first stage of Project Southgate, which is the name given to its 45-megawatt AI facility located in Launceston.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The renewable-powered facility will be used to provide local businesses, governments and researchers with low-cost, high-performance cloud services. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It will form part of the state\u2019s AI Factory Zone, which was unveiled by the Tasmanian government <a href=\"https:\/\/firmus.co\/company-news\/tasmanian-world-first-ai-factory-zone-clears-path-for-firmus-project-southgate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">in June<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, the government said once established, Southgate will power an extensive range of AI applications, from enterprise AI and high-performance computing through to gaming and content creation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAI Factories are purpose-built to power, train and inference artificial intelligences,\u201d said Curtis in June. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith Tasmania\u2019s clean energy and our AI Factory platform, we believe this will be the most cost-effective, sustainable AI facility in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Firmus Technologies has become the latest Australian-founded startup to reach unicorn status, after the artificial intelligence infrastructure company&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,5228,99343,2291,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-146863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australian-startup-funding","14":"tag-firmus-technologies","15":"tag-nvidia","16":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}