Blackstone backs Neysa in up to $1.2B financing as India pushes to build domestic AI infrastructure

Blackstone Backs Indian AI Startup Neysa with $600M as Global AI Infrastructure Race Heats Up

In a major move signaling confidence in India’s burgeoning AI ecosystem, U.S. private equity giant Blackstone has agreed to invest up to $600 million in Neysa, a Mumbai-based AI infrastructure startup, in a deal that positions the firm as a majority stakeholder. The investment, which includes both primary equity and plans for $600 million in debt financing, marks a dramatic escalation from Neysa’s earlier $50 million raise and underscores the explosive demand for localized AI compute capacity in one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets.

The funding round drew participation from a consortium of high-profile investors, including Teachers’ Venture Growth, TVS Capital, 360 ONE Assets, and Nexus Venture Partners. This influx of capital will enable Neysa to dramatically scale its GPU-powered infrastructure, targeting deployments of more than 20,000 GPUs in the coming years—a massive leap from its current operational base of around 1,200 GPUs.

The investment comes amid a global AI infrastructure crunch. As demand for AI computing surges, supply constraints for specialized chips and data center capacity have become critical bottlenecks. Traditional hyperscalers are struggling to keep pace, creating an opening for “neo-clouds”—agile, AI-first infrastructure providers that can deploy GPU capacity faster and with greater customization. Neysa is positioning itself squarely in this emerging segment, offering tailored, GPU-first solutions for enterprises, government agencies, and AI developers in India.

Sharad Sanghi, Neysa’s co-founder and CEO, emphasized the startup’s differentiated approach. “A lot of customers want hand-holding, and a lot of them want round-the-clock support with a 15-minute response and a couple of our resolutions. And so those are the kinds of things that we provide that some of the hyperscalers don’t,” he told TechCrunch. This focus on personalized service and rapid support is proving attractive to clients in regulated sectors like financial services and healthcare, where data localization and compliance are paramount.

Ganesh Mani, a senior managing director at Blackstone Private Equity, framed the investment as a bet on India’s AI future. He estimates that India currently has fewer than 60,000 GPUs deployed—a figure he expects to scale nearly 30-fold to more than two million in the coming years. This expansion is being fueled by a confluence of factors: government demand, enterprise needs in regulated industries, and the ambitions of AI developers building models within India. Global AI labs, many of which count India among their largest user bases, are also increasingly looking to deploy computing capacity closer to users to reduce latency and meet data requirements.

The deal also fits into Blackstone’s broader strategy in the AI and data center space. The firm has previously backed large-scale data center platforms such as QTS and AirTrunk, as well as specialized AI infrastructure providers including CoreWeave in the U.S. and Firmus in Australia. With Neysa, Blackstone is extending its reach into one of the world’s most dynamic and under-served AI markets.

Neysa’s ambitions are not limited to infrastructure. The startup develops and operates GPU-based AI platforms that enable enterprises, researchers, and public sector clients to train, fine-tune, and deploy AI models locally. The company plans to use the bulk of its new capital to deploy large-scale GPU clusters, including compute, networking, and storage, while a smaller portion will go toward research and development and building out its software platforms for orchestration, observability, and security.

Sanghi said Neysa aims to more than triple its revenue next year as demand for AI workloads accelerates, with ambitions to expand beyond India over time. Founded in 2023, the startup employs 110 people across offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai, and is already in advanced talks with clients that could see its capacity triple within the next nine months.

As the global AI race intensifies, Neysa’s partnership with Blackstone signals a new chapter in India’s AI journey—one where homegrown infrastructure providers play a pivotal role in powering the next wave of innovation. With billions in backing and a clear vision, Neysa is poised to become a key player in the global AI infrastructure landscape, helping to bridge the gap between demand and supply in one of the world’s most dynamic digital markets.

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