Compute North raises $385 million for data center buildouts

Eden Prairie-based Compute North has secured $385 million in new funding for its large-scale computing infrastructure projects.

The funding includes $85 million from private equity investors and $300 million in debt financing. The investments are on top of the $25 million investment it got a year ago to build out its data centers.

"Compute North has continued our execution and our business plan throughout 2021 and we've been extremely fortunate to have some exceptional growth along the way," said Dave Perrill, chief executive of Compute North.

The Series C private equity investment is being co-led by Mercuria, an independent energy and commodity group with 38 offices in 27 countries, and Generate Capital, a San Francisco-based investor in sustainable energy, mobility and water projects.

National Grid Partners, which specializes in energy projects, also is participating.

The $300 million in debt financing is coming from Generate.

"The Compute North team is at the leading edge of sustainable innovation in flexible data centers," said Andrew Marino, senior managing director at Generate, in a statement.

Compute North has data centers in Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas. The projects are modular, which allows them to be expanded quickly if needed.

The new funding will be used to develop new data centers, expand capacity at existing centers and add more staff. The company has a project under development in North Carolina and is adding new sites in Texas and Nebraska.

The sites use multiple energy sources, including renewable ones, and are designed to be quickly curtailed when utilities are under demand pressure.

When a winter storm damaged power lines in Nebraska recently, Compute North reduced its power within 10 minutes after a request by Nebraska Public Power District. "We can and will voluntarily shut down for the grid and provide that load to other resources," Perrill said.

Customers provide their computing hardware and Compute North provides power management, power engineering, electrical engineering and the sitework and site development for the data centers.

Many of Compute North's customers are involved in energy-intensive processes, including cryptocurrency mining, blockchain computing and machine learning.

A year ago, Perrill had hoped to double Compute North's 30 employees and increase its annual revenue five to 10 times from 2020's annual revenue of $13.2 million. The company now has 80 employees and may need another 60 to maintain revenue growth targets, he said.

"I'm happy to announce I've underestimated our projections," Perrill said.