Nebius, the artificial intelligence infrastructure group that was formed from Yandex’s operations outside Russia earlier this year, has raised $700mn from investors including chipmaker Nvidia to capitalise on exploding demand for AI data centres.

The new equity financing, via a private placement, comes six weeks after trading in Nebius’ stock resumed on Nasdaq, following its split in July from Yandex, Russia’s biggest internet group. Other investors involved in the deal announced on Monday include Silicon Valley venture firm Accel.

Nebius, led by chief Arkady Volozh, a rare Russian businessman to publicly condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and who has become an Israeli citizen, said: “Now we are finalising our journey from the ashes back in July to being a real company with real capital.”