SB Energy filed to go public this week carrying roughly $439 billion of backlog under binding contracts. All 8.8 GW-IT of that contracted capacity sits with two customers: OpenAI, on twenty-year leases covering some 8.0 GW-IT in Ohio, and SoftBank, which owns the company. Of that Ohio campus, Nvidia guarantees the initial 4.25 GW-IT and holds an option — not an obligation — over the remaining 3.78.
Because that is a public filing, you can see all of it — the concentration, the term, and which tranche is underwritten by whom. Elsewhere this week the same shapes appeared without the disclosure. Nscale took an equity stake in Figure in the same announcement as a $3.5 billion compute commitment. Jane Street is a $13 billion Crusoe customer and the lead investor in Fluidstack, having held both positions at CoreWeave since April. Contracted revenue is the number this sector is priced on, so put it through the same four questions every time: who owes it, for how long, on what terms, and with whose credit behind it. Call it the collectability test. A filing answers all four. Almost nothing else does.
SB Energy announced on September 1 that it had publicly filed a registration statement for a proposed listing. The filing carries approximately $439 billion of backlog under binding contracts — about $430 billion of it in the data-centre segment — against 8.8 GW-IT of contracted capacity held across just two customers: OpenAI, on twenty-year leases covering roughly 8.0 GW-IT over 17 buildings at the Ohio campus, and SoftBank, which owns the company. The weighted average remaining contract term is 19.6 years. Within that Ohio campus, Nvidia guarantees the initial 4.25 GW-IT phase — a guarantee valued at $105 billion against a matching remedy cap, on an arrangement under which the campus hosts Nvidia compute exclusively — and may elect, but is not obliged, to guarantee the remaining 3.78 GW-IT. Nvidia has separately committed $3 billion to SB Energy through a prepaid forward and a private placement. The balance of the 8.8 sits in Texas, where roughly 803 MW-IT is under construction and the campus targets its first rent in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Nscale announced a partnership with Figure on September 3: an initial $3.5 billion compute commitment, stated intent to exceed $6 billion, deployment targeted for the second half of 2027, and a strategic investment that makes Nscale a Figure shareholder. Nscale becomes Figure's preferred compute provider. The commitment and the equity position were announced together.
Bloomberg reported on September 3 that Crusoe had signed a roughly $13 billion, five-year cloud agreement with Jane Street, and — the same day — that Crusoe had raised more than $3 billion at a valuation of roughly $30 billion, co-led by Atreides Management and Valor Equity Partners with Mubadala Capital participating. Bloomberg's sourcing says the contract helped attract interest in the raise. Crusoe's prior mark came from an October 2025 initial closing of an anticipated $1.375 billion Series E.
Forbes reported on September 3 a previously unreported round of $1.5 billion valuing Fluidstack above $18 billion, led by Jane Street — which Forbes also identifies as a Fluidstack customer. No closing date was disclosed. Bloomberg reported Jane Street in talks at the same valuation in April 2026, so the September report may describe the close of that process rather than a new one.
Nvidia announced on September 3 that it had executed a definitive agreement the previous day to acquire Hugging Face — approximately $11.9 billion payable to shareholders plus up to roughly $1 billion in employee equity retention — expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to conditions. Nvidia states that its own compute will not be required to build on or deploy through Hugging Face, and that other computing platforms will be supported.
Reuters reported on September 4 that Nscale is seeking roughly $3.5 billion ahead of a planned US listing — about $1.5 billion of convertible notes led by Third Point, and it aims to secure a further $2 billion or so from Nvidia, with Goldman Sachs advising. Participation and final size remain unsettled. The Information reports, on investor documents, that Nscale's contracted revenue backlog now exceeds $100 billion, up from around $51 billion a month earlier. Its last established mark was $14.6 billion at its March Series C. Unlike SB Energy, Nscale has not said publicly who that backlog is owed by, on what terms, or with whose credit behind it — the figure comes from investor documents, not a filing.
Gimlet Labs announced a $300 million Series B on September 4 led by Andreessen Horowitz at a $3 billion valuation, with Sapphire Ventures, M12, Arm, Menlo Ventures and Factory participating. The company's own release states it has secured billions in contracted revenue for Gimlet Cloud and is scaling toward hundreds of megawatts of managed infrastructure. That figure is the company's own, and unaudited.
Flex announced a definitive agreement on September 3 to acquire EPC Power, a power-conversion manufacturer serving AI data centres and grid applications, for $4.4 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Jungheinrich announced on September 2 that Uplift Ventures had launched a €100 million fund for deeptech and industrial technology.
FNZ announced on September 1 that it had raised $450 million in new equity from its existing institutional shareholders.
Forbes reported on September 1 that 1789 Capital will invest $300 million in Polymarket's latest round, described as approximately $1 billion at a $21 billion valuation. The financing is reported as prospective; neither the company nor the lead investor has confirmed a close.
Reporting in early September put Slice's new round at about $100 million at a valuation of roughly $450 million — accounts range from $450 million to $470 million — more than halving its prior mark and far below the $1.5 billion it carried in 2021. Neo Wealth is reported to have led, with Kado Global and Moore Strategic Ventures participating, as the company completes its transition into a small finance bank.
Accel announced its seed investment in Atira on September 3; the $15 million figure comes from Atira's own announcement. Atira builds an AI orchestration layer for industrial sales engineering — a named buyer and a named job, described in a single line.
The obvious read of this week is that venture came back to the buildout. Crusoe closed more than $3 billion; Fluidstack was reported to have closed $1.5 billion. The more useful read arrived in a registration statement.
SB Energy's filing shows $439 billion of contracted backlog held by exactly two customers, one of which owns the company, on a weighted average term of 19.6 years — with a chip vendor guaranteeing the first phase of the Ohio campus and merely holding an option over the second. That is not a scandal. It is a disclosure, and no other backlog this week arrived with one.
Issue #026 argued that venture was not the marginal dollar here — that balance sheets, strategics and credit did the work. This week complicates the accounting more than the argument. Nscale took equity in Figure alongside a $3.5 billion compute commitment. Jane Street is a $13 billion Crusoe customer and Fluidstack's lead investor, and has held both at CoreWeave since April.
None of this is improper, and none of it is new. The sharper point is that relatedness is not quite the question — collectability is. A filing answers all four questions; private markets mostly answer none. That gap is closing, because two of the companies here are headed for public markets, which makes the disclosure mandatory and comparable.
Then run the test on the credit itself. Nvidia is not a third party here. It guarantees the initial phase, has committed $3 billion to the landlord, and the arrangement has the campus hosting Nvidia compute exclusively — while in the same week it is asked for roughly $2 billion by a competing neocloud. That does not make the guarantee worthless; a capped remedy from a balance sheet like Nvidia's is worth a great deal. It does mean the credit behind the backlog comes from the party with most to gain from the backlog existing, which relocates the relatedness rather than resolving it.
The wager: Nvidia has guaranteed up to $105 billion against one customer's campus. Its next 10-Q is due in late November and is free on EDGAR. If that filing does not quantify the guarantee as a contingent obligation — if $105 billion of single-counterparty exposure is not a number Nvidia's own shareholders get to see — then filings do not reliably answer the fourth question either, and the contrast this issue draws between disclosure and opacity is weaker than it reads.
If you are raising against contracted revenue, expect the question and answer it first. Name your counterparties, say which sit on your cap table, and say plainly which part of the number a stranger is paying for. A backlog is evidence. What it is worth depends on who owes it, and on whose credit stands behind them.