---
title: "September 4–5 VC News: XDOF $1.2B Talks, Nscale $3.5B Pre-IPO Ask"
description: "TechCrunch’s September 4 tape: XDOF in late-stage Series B talks at about $1.2 billion (8VC; amount unknown) and Nscale shopping about $3.5 billion of pre-IPO paper ($1.5 billion converts plus $2 billion Nvidia). Neither is a company close. Does not duplicate open PRs #135 or #136."
date: 2026-09-05T00:00:00.000Z
tags: ["2026-vc-news", "venture-capital", "startup-funding", "market-analysis", "robotics"]
source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/2026-september-4-5-investment-news-xdof-nscale
---

# September 4–5 VC News: XDOF $1.2B Talks, Nscale $3.5B Pre-IPO Ask

> TechCrunch’s September 4 tape: XDOF in late-stage Series B talks at about $1.2 billion (8VC; amount unknown) and Nscale shopping about $3.5 billion of pre-IPO paper ($1.5 billion converts plus $2 billion Nvidia). Neither is a company close. Does not duplicate open PRs #135 or #136.

**September 4–5, 2026** added two **talks** prints, not two closes. [XDOF](/startup/xdof) is being marked at **about $1.2 billion**. [Nscale](/startup/nscale) is shopping **about $3.5 billion** of pre-IPO paper. Both stories are [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/04/xdof-just-three-months-out-of-stealth-is-in-talks-for-a-series-b-at-a-1-2b-valuation/) / Bloomberg-via-TC. **Neither company confirmed a close.**

This index does **not** re-litigate open [PR #135](https://github.com/advissor/cf-page-venturecapitaltrackercom/pull/135) or [PR #136](https://github.com/advissor/cf-page-venturecapitaltrackercom/pull/136).

## Deal table

| Company | Amount | Stage | Lead / core | Why it matters | Deep dive |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [XDOF](/startup/xdof) | **$1.2B** mark | Series B **talks** | [8VC](/fund/8vc) | Amount unknown. Last print $70M (June). | [Article](/2026-xdof-1-2b-series-b-talks-8vc) |
| [Nscale](/startup/nscale) | **$3.5B** ask | Pre-IPO **talks** | Nvidia $2B line + $1.5B converts | Not equity. $103B is projected leases. | [Article](/2026-nscale-3-5b-pre-ipo-financing) |

## Theme 1 — Physical-AI data got a talks unicorn clock

[XDOF](/2026-xdof-1-2b-series-b-talks-8vc) is the robot-data vendor [Thrive](/fund/thrive-capital), [a16z](/fund/andreessen-horowitz), [Spark](/fund/spark-capital), and [Lux](/fund/lux-capital) already sat on in June. September’s print is **8VC leading talks**, not a company post. Same week [Lyte](/startup/lyte) **closed** $165 million at **$1.6 billion** (merged PR #134) — that is a different job (sensing silicon). [AfterQuery](/2026-afterquery-3-2b-yc-fastest-unicorn-reported) is the other **amount-unknown** data-supply mark this month.

## Theme 2 — AI-factory paper is not a Series C

[Nscale](/2026-nscale-3-5b-pre-ipo-financing) is asking for **convertibles plus Nvidia financing** ahead of a possible **September** listing. Last **company** equity is the **$1.1 billion** Series B dated **September 25, 2025**. The **~$45 billion** [Anthropic](/startup/anthropic) offtake is **August 26 press**. Do not add those lines into current revenue.

Same Nvidia week: [Hugging Face](/2026-nvidia-hugging-face-12-9b-acquisition) is **agreed, not closed**.

## Roundup-only / owned elsewhere

- **Hivebotics $6M Series A** (Business Times, Sep 4) — already on the [Sep 3–4 index](/2026-september-3-4-investment-news-nvidia-hugging-face). Standalone is **PR #136**.
- **Atira $15M+ Accel seed**, **Octave.energy €10M**, **Sirdab standalone**, **HiBob $166M** — **PR #136**. HiBob also briefed on **PR #135**.
- **Wonderful / Crusoe / Gimlet / Upwind / Ultrahuman / Guardio / Huskeys / iPronics / Fluidstack** — **PR #135**.
- **Molagri $1.0M** pre-seed (YC S26; Signalbase Sep 4) — too small.
- **Sharpa $670M / $3.3B** recap (Caproasia Sep 5) — August close; merged **PR #125**. Aggregator date is not a new round.
- **iPremom €15M** seed (EU-Startups, Sep 2) — prior-window EU diagnostics; no directory fund pages.

Month hub: [September 2026 VC news](/2026-september-vc-news). YC Summer Demo Day remains **September 10**.

**By:** [Venture Capital Tracker](https://venturecapitaltracker.com/editorial-policy)
**Last updated:** September 5, 2026

**Editorial note:** AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.