Nebius Group, led by founder and ex-CEO of Russian internet major Yandex Arkady Volozh, raised $4bn through a placement of convertible bonds, according to RBC business portal citing company disclosures.

Nebius Group is led by the founder and ex-head of Russian internet major Yandex Arkady Volozh. After a split from Yandex, Nebius now operates as a "neocloud" provider with data centres in the US, Europe, and Israel, boasting clients such as Microsoft (MSFT). 

While Volozh was personally sanctioned by the EU, those sanctions were eventually lifted after he became one of only two senior Russian businessmen to openly condemn what he called President Vladimir Putin’s "barbaric war" with Ukraine.

Previously, Jeff Bezos’ investment firm Bezos Expeditions led a $72mn funding round in Nebius AI data subsidiary Toloka, while Nvidia had already invested $700mn in the company in 2024.

Previous reports already claimed that Nvidia (NVDA) would invest $2bn in Nebius to support AI data centre construction, while Meta has just agreed to invest up to $27bn in artificial intelligence infrastructure with Nebius.

In addition, Nebius placed two tranches of bonds, including $2.25bn with a 1.250% coupon maturing in 2031 and $1.75bn with a 2.625% coupon maturing in 2033. The placement was increased from an initially announced $3.75bn and is targeted at qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A of the US Securities Act, RBC reports.

Nebius plans to channel the funds raised for the construction of the data processing centres and general corporate purposes. The transaction is expected to close on March 20, 2026, with an option for additional issuance of up to $600mn.