Industry: Data Centers
Data center financing
Equity secures land and power, construction debt follows a signed lease, and bonds or a sale take over once rent flows. Each step has its own lenders and investors, and all of them test power, tenants and the exit first.
- Site and group models with power dates, leases, debt and take-out
- Past work for data center developers, an equipment maker and a gas-to-power project
- Waveup prepares investor materials for data center developers and operators: $3B+ raised for 600+ startups since 2014
In short
What is data center financing?
Data center financing is the money that secures land and power, builds the campus and refinances it once tenants pay rent. Developers combine sponsor equity, construction loans, bonds and securitizations, and many sell stakes to infrastructure funds. JLL expects the sector to need up to $3 trillion of investment by 2030.
- Who it's for
- Developers and operators of hyperscale, colocation, edge and AI campuses, pre-seed to Series D+
- What we build
- Site and group financial models, investor and lender decks, valuation, CIM, data room
- Prices
- Deck from $6,000, model from $3,000. Flat fees
- Track record
- $3B+ raised for 600+ startups since 2014
Market data checked on 8 November 2026. Sources are under each section.
Who is funding the data centers being built?
Mostly lenders and long-term investors, alongside the tech giants' own cash. Morgan Stanley expects outside capital to fill a $1.5 trillion gap from 2025 to 2028.
The opportunity
Tenants sign for space long before it exists, and long-term money wants that rent.
- Cloud and AI tenants lease whole campuses before they open
- Pension, insurance and sovereign money looks for long, steady leases
- Bonds and securitizations now refinance finished campuses
The problem
Power, not capital, sets the pace, because new campuses wait for grid connections. Berkeley Lab projects data centers could use up to 12% of US electricity by 2028.
Market size
How much money will data centers need by 2030?
JLL expects the sector to need up to $3 trillion of investment by 2030. Four forces drive that need:
- Capacity: nearly 100 GW of new data centers could open worldwide in 2026–2030, doubling the total (JLL forecast)
- Debt: JLL sees a need for about $870 billion of new debt over the same five years
- Scarce space: vacancy in North America's primary markets hit a record low of 1.4% in H1 2026
- Power: data centers used 4.4% of all US electricity in 2023, and their use keeps climbing
Debt and equity
Who fills the data center funding gap?
Hyperscalers still pay for much of their own build, but outside debt funds a fast-growing share. US data center financings were expected to double to $60 billion in 2025, Norton Rose Fulbright reported.
of debt raised for Meta's Hyperion campus in Louisiana, closed in October 2025
loan-to-cost on Hut 8's June 2026 data center bond, a record for such deals
of single-asset CMBS backed by data centers in H1 2026
Who invests in data centers?
Infrastructure managers, pension funds and data center platforms buy stakes, while banks and development lenders fund construction. A few names by type. GPU clouds and their lenders are on our AI infrastructure page.
What do data center lenders test first?
In our Fundraising 2025 study, 56 VCs named revenue growth, unit economics, burn and missed milestones as top reasons to pass. Defensibility and crowded categories came next. For a data center, lenders and infrastructure funds add four tests of their own.
Time to power
Buyers now pay for powered land: Stream Data Centers controls over 4 GW of it, and Apollo bought a majority stake. Without a firm grid date, a site is only a land option.
What investors ask
- When will the utility energize each phase, and is that in writing?
What your deck shows
- Power status by site: studies, agreements and energization dates
- A bridge plan, such as phased load or on-site generation
No lease, no loan
Tenants want proof of power before they sign, and lenders want a signed lease before they lend. In H1 2026, 80.4% of capacity under construction in primary markets was already leased.
What investors ask
- Who is the tenant, how long is the lease, and when can they walk away?
What your deck shows
- Lease or letter-of-intent status for each phase
- Tenant credit and termination rights
The refinancing step
Construction loans often cover the build plus three or four years, then must be refinanced. The take-out depends on lease length, tenant credit and the market on that day.
What investors ask
- What refinances the construction loan, and on what terms?
What your deck shows
- A take-out plan: term loan, ABS, CMBS or a sale
- Debt sized to contracted rent, with a rate test
AI equipment ages fast
AI servers and chips usually last five years at most, while the building lasts decades. Lenders want to know which of the two their money pays for.
What investors ask
- Does the loan cover the building, the IT equipment or both?
What your deck shows
- Separate budgets for shell, fit-out and IT equipment
- Who owns the equipment, and how it is financed
How we help you raise
Flat fees agreed before we start. No success fee on advisory work.
Power, leases and pipeline in one story for funds and lenders.
Site and group models: capex per MW, rent, debt sizing and take-out.
Value per MW and per site, set against recent platform deals.
Infrastructure funds, pension investors and lenders that fit your size.
Power agreements, title, permits and leases, indexed for lender review.
For selling a campus, a stake or the whole platform.
$100Mdebt facility
From a $5M seed to a $100M debt facility for a sovereign AI company
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$75Mrevenue group, buyout financed
The CIM behind the buyout of a $75M-revenue utility and power group
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$100Mraise at a $500M valuation
Getting an integrated energy platform ready for a $100M raise at a $500M valuation
Read the storyWho we are
Waveup is a London-based fundraising and growth advisory, working in 60+ countries and 90+ industries. Since 2014 we have built the decks, models, CIMs and valuations behind $3B+ raised for 600+ startups. Our work includes 500+ financial models and 500+ valuations.
About usData center financing FAQ
How are data centers financed?
Who are the biggest investors in data centers?
What is data center securitization?
What do lenders check before funding a data center?
How is a data center company valued?
How much does help with a data center raise cost?
Raising for a data center project?
Send us the site, its power status and the amount you need. We'll show you which capital fits each phase.
