Startups > Crusoe

Crusoe

Crusoe builds AI infrastructure powered by waste energy at 30-50% lower cost.

Series E $3,900,000,000 total Founded 2018 Denver, Colorado 871 employees

Crusoe designs, builds, and operates a vertically integrated AI infrastructure stack spanning power sourcing (wind, solar, geothermal, and stranded gas conversion) to modular AI datacenter operations. The company offers Crusoe Cloud, an AI cloud platform with managed inference and rapid API deployment, enabling AI builders to reduce energy costs by 30-50% compared to AWS or Azure. Crusoe achieves this by capturing energy that would otherwise be wasted, significantly lowering the largest operational expense in AI data centers. The company has raised $3.9B to date and reached a $10B valuation in October 2025.

Problem solved

AI compute is prohibitively expensive due to energy costs representing 60% of data center expenses, and deployment requires managing complex infrastructure across multiple providers.

Target customer

AI-native companies, enterprises deploying large language models, and AI application developers seeking cost-efficient GPU compute (e.g., Cursor, Decart, Fireworks, Odyssey, Together AI).

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Founders

Chase Lochmiller

CEO & Co-Founder

Former General Partner at Polychain Capital ($1B blockchain fund), quantitative researcher and trader at Jump Trading and GETCO, software engineer at Facebook; degrees in math and physics from MIT and MS in computer science from Stanford (AI specialty).

Cully Cavness

Co-Founder, President & Chief Strategy Officer

Former VP of Finance at Highlands Natural Resources (exploration and production), energy investment banker at Petrie Partners, business development at Global Geothermal; geology degree from Middlebury, MBA from Oxford; Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy (2020).

Funding history

Seed $4,500,000 March 2019 Led by Unknown · Unknown

Series A $30,000,000 December 2019 Led by Bain Capital Ventures · Unknown

Series B $128,000,000 2021 Led by Valor Equity Partners · Unknown

Series C $350,000,000 2022 Led by G2 Venture Partners · Unknown

Series D $600,000,000 December 2024 Led by Founders Fund · Fidelity Investments, NVIDIA, Lowercarbon Capital, Polychain Capital, Winklevoss Capital, DRW Trading Group, Mubadala, Valor Equity Partners, Ribbit Capital

Series E $1,375,000,000 October 2025 Led by Valor Equity Partners, Mubadala Capital · 137 Ventures, 1789 Capital, Activate Capital, Altimeter Capital, Atreides Management, BAM Elevate, DPR Construction, Ora Global, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Founders Fund, Franklin Templeton, Galvanize, Long Journey Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, M37 Management, MCJ, NVIDIA, Radical Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Saquon Barkley, Spark Capital, StepStone Group, Supermicro, T. Rowe Price, Tiger Global Management, Upper90, Winklevoss Capital, Zigg Capital, Blue Owl (expected)

Total raised: $3,900,000,000

Industries

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Energy Energy Management Oil and Gas

Pricing

Customers can choose on-demand, spot, or multi-year reserved instances. Self-serve pricing calculator available to estimate costs based on GPU type and instance size. Specific per-unit pricing not publicly disclosed.

Notable customers

Cursor, Decart, Fireworks, Odyssey, Together AI

Integrations

Astro, core-js, Google Cloud Storage, DocuSign, HubSpot, Google Analytics, Google Cloud CDN, Cloudflare, Google Cloud, Transcend

Tech stack

Astro (JavaScript frameworks) core-js (JavaScript libraries) HTTP/3 Google Cloud Storage DocuSign HubSpot Analytics (Analytics) Google Analytics (Analytics) HSTS (Security) Apple iCloud Mail (Webmail) Google Workspace (Email) Google Cloud CDN (CDN) Cloudflare (CDN) HubSpot (Marketing automation) Google Cloud (IaaS) Transcend (Cookie compliance)

Website

crusoe.ai

Competitors

AWS

Crusoe offers 30-50% lower energy costs by leveraging waste energy sources; AWS is a general-purpose cloud provider without specialized energy optimization for AI.

Microsoft Azure

Crusoe provides vertically integrated power sourcing and AI-optimized infrastructure; Azure relies on grid power and serves broader cloud workloads.

Lambda Labs

Crusoe operates full infrastructure stack with proprietary power sourcing; Lambda Labs focuses on GPU rental without energy optimization.

CoreWeave

Both specialize in GPU compute infrastructure, but Crusoe uniquely integrates energy sourcing and stranded gas conversion into cost advantage.

Why this matters: Crusoe has achieved a $10B valuation in 7 years by solving a fundamental cost problem in AI (energy) at infrastructure layer, enabling cheaper AI deployment globally. The combination of energy expertise, capital raise ($3.9B), and backing from NVIDIA and major VCs positions it as a critical player in AI infrastructure commoditization.

Best for: AI development teams and enterprises that prioritize cost efficiency in GPU compute and want to avoid infrastructure management complexity while building AI applications at scale.

Use cases

Cost-Efficient LLM Inference

AI companies deploying large language models can run inference workloads on Crusoe Cloud at 30-50% lower cost than AWS or Azure, directly improving unit economics. Cursor and Together AI use Crusoe to serve inference at competitive pricing while maintaining margins.

Rapid API Deployment

AI application developers can select models via the Crusoe Intelligence Foundry, generate API keys, and go to production in minutes with up to 9.9x faster time-to-first-token. This accelerates time-to-market for AI startups iterating on new use cases.

Managed Fine-Tuning at Scale

Enterprises fine-tuning proprietary models benefit from Crusoe's managed inference powered by MemoryAlloy technology, eliminating the need to negotiate multiple cloud contracts and manage heterogeneous infrastructure while reducing total cost of ownership.

Alternatives

AWS SageMaker Broader machine learning platform with more tooling; Crusoe specializes in cost-optimized GPU inference and is better for cost-sensitive, inference-heavy workloads.

Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service Tightly integrated with Microsoft ecosystem and models; Crusoe offers broader model selection and 30-50% cost advantage through energy optimization.

CoreWeave Both target GPU-intensive AI workloads, but Crusoe differentiates on integrated power sourcing and waste energy conversion for sustainable cost reduction.

FAQ

What does Crusoe do? +

Crusoe builds vertically integrated AI infrastructure that combines power sourcing (renewable energy plus stranded gas conversion) with modular AI datacenters and a cloud platform. The company offers Crusoe Cloud with managed inference, API deployment, and proprietary MemoryAlloy technology to enable fast, cost-efficient AI inference and training.

How much does Crusoe cost? +

Crusoe offers on-demand, spot, and multi-year reserved pricing options. A self-serve pricing calculator is available on the website to estimate costs based on GPU type and instance size. Specific per-unit rates are not publicly disclosed; contact sales for custom enterprise pricing.

What makes Crusoe cheaper than AWS or Azure? +

Crusoe captures energy that would otherwise be wasted (stranded natural gas, renewable curtailment) and converts it to electricity, reducing energy costs by 30-50%. Since energy represents ~60% of AI data center expenses, this translates directly to lower infrastructure costs passed to customers.

Who uses Crusoe? +

Target customers include AI-native startups and enterprises deploying large language models. Known customers include Cursor, Decart, Fireworks, Odyssey, and Together AI. These are companies building AI applications that require cost-efficient GPU inference at scale.

How does Crusoe compare to CoreWeave? +

Both specialize in GPU infrastructure for AI, but Crusoe uniquely integrates power sourcing and stranded gas conversion into the business model, enabling structural 30-50% cost advantages. CoreWeave focuses on GPU supply without energy optimization.