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Crusoe

Last Updated November 24, 2025

Crusoe Energy Systems develops and operates AI-optimized data centers directly at energy sources that are otherwise wasted or constrained, such as flared natural gas and increasingly surplus renewable power. Its proprietary Digital Flare Mitigation® platform captures stranded natural gas at oil and gas well sites, converts it into electricity on-site, and uses that power to run containerized GPU clusters for AI and high-performance computing workloads. The company has expanded this model into large, grid-connected but “energy-first” campuses such as its Abilene, Texas development—tied to the first phase of the Stargate AI data-center initiative where Oracle will host compute for OpenAI—and a multi-gigawatt campus in Wyoming for a major technology customer. Crusoe pitches itself as a neocloud provider: an alternative to traditional hyperscalers that can scale faster, closer to energy sources, and with a built-in decarbonization story.
Company Overview: Crusoe
From an investment-thesis standpoint (not financial advice), Crusoe sits at the intersection of three secular trends: exponential AI compute demand, increasingly strained and regulated power grids, and mounting pressure to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from flaring and venting. The company’s differentiated model—vertically integrating energy capture, power generation, and AI compute—offers a structural cost advantage versus grid-powered data centers and a rare climate-tech narrative inside the AI infrastructure stack. The March 2025 Series D ($600M at $2.8B) and October 2025 Series E (~$1.4B at >$10B) show rapid valuation expansion in under a year, backed by large infrastructure and sovereign investors. If Crusoe can execute on its planned multi-gigawatt campuses and scale Crusoe Cloud into a meaningful neocloud alternative, the upside is tied to capturing a slice of AI’s infrastructure spend while helping oil and gas operators monetize and clean up waste energy.
Investment Highlights

Investment Highlights

1. Energy-First AI Infrastructure Model

Crusoe’s core innovation is building AI data centers around the power source rather than
trying to pull more power from already constrained grids. Its Digital Flare Mitigation®
(DFM) units sit at oil and gas sites, convert stranded gas that would otherwise be flared or
vented into electricity, and feed that power directly into modular data centers. This turns an
environmental liability into a compute asset while reducing emissions from flaring.

2. Pivot from Crypto to AI at Scale

Crusoe originally used DFM to power Bitcoin mining but has deliberately pivoted away from
crypto toward AI and high-performance computing. Its current focus is GPU-heavy cloud
infrastructure and dedicated AI campuses, aligning the business with a more durable and
higher-value demand curve than pure crypto mining.

3. Multi-Gigawatt Flagship Campuses

The company is developing some of the largest AI campuses announced to date, including a
~1.2 GW campus in Abilene, Texas associated with the first phase of the Stargate
AI infrastructure project, where Crusoe is the site developer and Oracle will lease data
center space to serve OpenAI. Crusoe is also building a multi-gigawatt campus in Wyoming
for a Fortune 100 technology customer, with the combined pipeline reportedly exceeding
4–5 GW near term and further expansion discussed in public reporting.

4. Rapid Valuation Expansion

In March 2025, Crusoe raised a $600M Series D at a $2.8B valuation led by Founders
Fund and others. In October 2025, it closed a ~$1.4B Series E led by Mubadala and Valor
Equity at a valuation “just over $10B,” more than tripling in value in roughly seven months.

5. Strong Revenue Growth (Estimates)

Analyst research (e.g., Sacra) estimates Crusoe generated roughly $152M in revenue in 2023,
around $276M in 2024, and projects revenue approaching $1B in 2025. While these figures
are not company-disclosed, they indicate a trajectory consistent with the shift from crypto
mining to AI infrastructure and the ramp of large campus projects.

6. ESG & Regulatory Tailwinds

By capturing gas that would otherwise be flared, Crusoe enables oil and gas producers to
reduce emissions and improve compliance with tightening environmental regulations. Its
DFM deployments have diverted billions of cubic feet of gas from flaring and generated
hundreds of thousands of MWh of electricity from stranded energy, according to company
and media reporting.

7. Blue-Chip and Sovereign Investor Base

Crusoe is backed by a mix of top-tier venture, infrastructure, and sovereign funds, including
Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners, Mubadala, and other large institutions.
NVIDIA’s strategic involvement underscores Crusoe’s relevance in the AI compute ecosystem.

Product & Technology Leadership

Products & Technology

1. Digital Flare Mitigation® (DFM)

DFM is Crusoe’s flagship technology: modular units deployed at oil and gas sites that
capture stranded natural gas, combust it in high-efficiency generators, and turn it into
electricity on-site. That power feeds nearby data centers instead of being wasted as flared
emissions.

2. Modular Data Centers

Crusoe builds containerized data center modules that can be rapidly deployed near energy
sources. These units integrate power distribution, cooling, networking, and racks of GPUs,
enabling deployment timelines measured in months rather than the multi-year build cycles
of conventional data centers.

3. Crusoe Cloud

Crusoe Cloud offers GPU cloud services optimized for AI training and inference, using
hardware such as NVIDIA A100 and H100 accelerators connected via high-speed fabrics.
The service targets AI labs, startups, and enterprises looking for performant, lower-cost
alternatives to incumbent clouds—backed by Crusoe’s energy-optimized cost structure.

4. Power Peninsula™

Power Peninsula™ is described as Crusoe’s energy orchestration platform, integrating
different energy sources (stranded gas, grid power, renewables, and storage) to optimize
reliability, cost, and emissions. This software layer is key to running large campuses like
Abilene efficiently across diverse power mixes.

5. Large-Scale Campuses

Beyond wellhead deployments, Crusoe is building mega-campuses such as the Abilene,
Texas site—roughly 1 million square feet and ~1.2GW of planned capacity—leased to Oracle
to serve OpenAI under the Stargate initiative. It is also developing a larger campus in
Wyoming linked to another Fortune 100 tech customer, with a multi-gigawatt pipeline of
additional sites under discussion.

6. Clean Energy Diversification

While Crusoe’s origin was in flare gas, the company is now actively incorporating
stranded renewables (wind and solar) into its power mix, especially at the Abilene campus
and other planned “clean campus” developments. This broadens the resource base and
reduces reliance on fossil-based flaring over time.

7. Strategic Pivot from Mining to AI

A notable part of the tech story is Crusoe’s successful pivot from Bitcoin mining toward
AI and HPC. The underlying DFM and data-center technology remained consistent, but the
workload mix shifted to more durable enterprise demand—AI model training, inference, and
cloud workloads—improving the long-term strategic profile.

 Market Position & Strategic Advantage

Market Position & Competition

1. Category: Neocloud / Energy-First AI Infrastructure

Crusoe operates in an emerging “neocloud” category: vertically integrated infrastructure
providers built specifically for AI workloads, distinct from legacy colocation and general-
purpose cloud. The differentiator is energy-first design—building compute where cheap or
stranded power exists, not where grid power happens to be abundant.

2. Competitive Frame

Versus traditional clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP): Crusoe emphasizes faster deployment,
lower power cost from stranded energy, and a stronger climate-tech narrative rather than
broad horizontal services.

Versus data center REITs (Equinix, Digital Realty): Traditional operators rely on grid
interconnects and multi-year permitting cycles; Crusoe uses modular deployments and
co-location at energy sources to shorten timelines.

Versus AI infra startups (CoreWeave, Lambda, etc.): Peers focus on GPU availability and
cloud experience; Crusoe’s distinctive edge is its waste-energy sourcing and DFM tech
plus large integrated campuses.

3. Structural Advantages

Cost structure: Access to otherwise wasted or low-value energy can translate into a
structural cost advantage for compute, especially at scale.

Speed to market: Containerized data centers and co-location with energy assets can
launch capacity in months rather than years, which matters in a market where AI demand
doubles roughly every 6–12 months.

ESG alignment: By reducing flaring and venting, Crusoe offers an ESG-positive story to
both its energy partners and compute customers.

4. Strategic Partnerships

Crusoe works closely with oil and gas operators who supply stranded gas, and with
technology partners—for example, its Abilene campus is part of the Stargate initiative
alongside Oracle and OpenAI. Investment from NVIDIA underscores its positioning inside
the broader AI hardware and cloud ecosystem.

Financial Opportunity

Financial Opportunity (Context, Not Advice)

1. Revenue & Growth Profile (Estimates)

Private-company disclosures are limited, but analyst and data-provider estimates (e.g.,
Sacra, secondary research) indicate:

  • 2023 Revenue: ≈$152M
  • 2024 Revenue: ≈$276M (≈82% growth)
  • 2025 Projection: ≈$1.0B (≈262% projected growth)

These figures are not audited or company-reported but align with Crusoe’s capital raises,
campus build-outs, and pivot into large AI infrastructure contracts.

2. TAM Alignment

Crusoe’s opportunity tracks two expanding markets:

  • AI Compute: Demand for GPU capacity is outstripping supply, with hyperscalers and
    enterprises racing to secure long-term infrastructure.
  • Energy Transition: Regulatory and investor pressure to reduce flaring and emissions
    is increasing, creating incentives for operators to partner with firms like Crusoe.

3. Value Creation Levers

Energy arbitrage: Turning low-value or zero-value stranded energy into high-value compute.

Scale economics: Multi-gigawatt campuses (e.g., Abilene, Wyoming) offer operating and
procurement leverage once built out.

Vertical integration: Owning the stack from energy capture to cloud services can support
higher blended margins than pure hosting or power-only models.

4. Risk & Cyclicality Considerations (High Level)

As with any capital-intensive infrastructure business, outcomes depend on execution:
delivering large campuses on time and budget, maintaining reliability for Tier 1 AI
customers, and continuing to secure attractive energy deals. Longer term, the mix of
flared gas vs. renewables and the evolution of AI compute demand will shape the durability
of Crusoe’s advantage.

This section is descriptive and based on publicly available information and third-party
estimates. It is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

Company Snapshot

Crusoe Energy Systems – Snapshot (Nov 2025)

  • Category: Energy-first AI Infrastructure (Neocloud)
  • Founded: 2018
  • Founder & CEO: Chase Lochmiller
  • Headquarters: Denver, Colorado, USA
  • Latest Valuation: Just over $10B (Series E, Oct 2025)
  • Latest Round: ≈$1.4B Series E led by Mubadala & Valor Equity
  • Prior Round: $600M Series D at $2.8B valuation (Mar 2025)
  • 2023 Revenue (Est.): ≈$152M
  • 2024 Revenue (Est.): ≈$276M
  • 2025 Revenue (Proj.): ≈$1.0B (analyst estimate)
  • Core Tech: Digital Flare Mitigation® (DFM), modular AI data centers, Crusoe Cloud
  • Key Campus: Abilene, Texas – ~1.2 GW, 10+ building AI campus
  • Environmental Impact: Billions of cubic feet of gas diverted from flaring and hundreds of thousands of MWh generated from otherwise wasted energy

Note: Revenue figures and 2025 projections are based on third-party estimates (e.g., Sacra, media reports); Crusoe is private and does not publish full financials.

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About Crusoe

Crusoe Energy Systems is an energy-first AI infrastructure company that converts stranded and waste energy into power for high-performance computing. Founded in 2018 in Denver, the company began by mitigating methane flaring from oil and gas operations and has since evolved into a vertically integrated platform spanning power generation, modular data centers, and GPU cloud services for AI training and inference. Crusoe’s Digital Flare Mitigation® systems capture natural gas that would otherwise be flared or vented and use it to generate electricity on-site, which then feeds containerized data centers colocated at or near the energy source.

As AI compute demand has accelerated and grid constraints have tightened, Crusoe has repositioned itself as a “sustainable neocloud” provider competing with traditional hyperscalers and AI infrastructure startups. The company reports that its flare-mitigation deployments have prevented more than 5.4 billion cubic feet of gas from being flared and generated over 635,000 MWh of electricity, materially reducing CO₂ and methane emissions relative to baseline flaring.  In 2024–2025 Crusoe expanded from mobile flare-site units into larger fixed campuses, including a nearly one-million-square-foot facility in Abilene, Texas that underpins the first phase of OpenAI’s Stargate data-center project and is designed to host more than 100,000 GPUs.  With a Series D round in late 2024 and a Series E in October 2025 that valued the company at more than $10 billion, Crusoe is now capitalized to scale its model globally at the intersection of AI infrastructure, energy innovation, and climate technology.