Analysis
Firmus Grid withdrew its IPO at a roughly $30 billion valuation after investors balked, Newcomer reported. The data center builder reported $59 million in FY2026 revenue and has delivered just 46 megawatts of a 912-megawatt pipeline -- a gap Bloomberg has described as "arrogant overreach."
The retreat marks a sharp reversal from where the company stood earlier this year. Pulse previously covered Firmus's rapid run-up in ambition:
- ASX listing plan -- a roughly $5 billion offering on the Australian Securities Exchange.
- Series G -- a $2 billion round backed by Nvidia.
- APAC funding round -- a separate $2 billion raise tied to a $10.5 billion valuation.
- This IPO attempt -- a $30 billion ask, now pulled.
“- APAC funding round -- a separate $2 billion raise tied to a $10.5 billion valuation.”
The jump from that trajectory to a $30 billion ask, pursued and then pulled within the same year, is itself the story.
Firmus isn't alone in hitting turbulence. Nscale's own Nasdaq plans, built on Microsoft and Anthropic contracts, are now being described as "looking shaky" by people close to the process, after the company filed to go public last month at a roughly $35 billion valuation. CoreWeave, the neocloud that proved this market could go public at all, has seen its bonds trade near a 15% yield and its stock fall about 30% in recent weeks, even though shares remain roughly 60% above its IPO price from 18 months ago.
The math behind the skepticism is straightforward: a $30 billion valuation against $59 million in actual revenue implies a multiple in the hundreds, at a moment when lenders are demanding closer to investment-grade borrowing costs for data center debt to make sense at all. However, Firmus hasn't disappeared -- it withdrew the IPO rather than price it down, which leaves open the possibility the pipeline still gets built and the company returns once 912MW looks less like a promise and more like a delivered number. What the headline misses is that pulling an IPO isn't the same as the business failing; it just means investors weren't willing to pay today for megawatts that exist only on a roadmap.