Nscale Acquires Anyscale for $1.65B to Expand AI Compute Stack

British AI neocloud Nscale is acquiring software startup Anyscale for $1.65 billion, as reported by Bloomberg. Anyscale was founded by the team behind the open-source Project Ray distributed programming Python framework. Initially focused on large-scale computing projects, Anyscale pivoted after GPT-3's 2022 launch to offer scaling services for training and serving large language models, data curation, inferencing, and reinforcement learning. Its platform is built around Ray, providing developer tools, observability, and orchestration. The acquisition aligns with Nscale's vertical integration strategy, adding workload management and scaling to its existing energy, data center, and orchestration software lines. Anyscale stated that together they can co-design the software and infrastructure layers more effectively. Nscale raised $2 billion in a Series C round in March, valuing it at $14.6 billion, with investors including Nvidia, Nokia, Blue Owl, Dell, and Aker. It has since secured partnerships with Microsoft, British Telecom, and Nordcraft. Anyscale, valued at $1.38 billion in a 2022 Series C, reported 70% revenue growth in its most recent quarter. Anyscale will retain its branding and serve existing customers; its approximately 200 employees will join Nscale.