I Squared Capital establishes nLighten, a European edge datacenter platform

I Squared Capital, through its ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund III, has established nLighten, an edge datacenter platform dedicated to delivering solutions for both traditional and low-latency use cases. I Squared has committed more than $500 million of equity to support nLighten’s ambition to bring high quality colocation services to underserved cities and regions across Europe. nLighten is part of I Squared Capital’s global datacenter portfolio, including KIO in the Americas and BDx in Asia.

nLighten is led by former senior executives from Equinix, including Harro Beusker, Co-Founder and CEO, and Chad McCarthy, Co-Founder and CTO. Harro has held various leadership roles at Equinix, including SVP of Corporate Development for EMEA, Managing Director Germany and Netherlands and Interim Managing Director France, and Chad was most recently Equinix’s Global Head of Engineering Development and Master Planning. Both were instrumental in the development of Equinix’s business in EMEA as well as key global initiatives like its hyperscale platform, xScale. Other members of the management team include Christian Zipp, former VP of Sales of Germany and Netherlands for Digital Realty and before that Regional VP of Sales in Germany for Equinix, and Martin Essig, former MD of Telecity Germany.

nLighten’s initial focus will be in Germany, where it expects to open ten strategic locations in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg, and Stuttgart in the second half of 2023. Through the combination of a distributed nationwide footprint and innovative connectivity partnerships, nLighten intends to offer a latency of 2 to 6 milliseconds to most 5G and last-mile users. The company is also pursuing the deployment of innovative energy solutions, including grid stabilization and the recovery and export of heat to nearby buildings and utility networks.

“With our team of experienced professionals, we are looking to create a step-change in the datacenter industry,” said Harro Beusker, CEO and Co-Founder of nLighten. “We will be close to the customer, bring connectivity ecosystems to regional markets, and actively support the energy transition.”

About nLighten

With its German headquarters in Eschborn, near Frankfurt am Main, nLighten is a digital infrastructure platform and a portfolio company of I Squared Capital. Founded in 2021 by a core team with many years of experience and wide-ranging expertise in the datacenter sector, nLighten intends to build, acquire and operate multiple edge datacenter platforms across Europe. (https://www.nlighten.eu)

nLighten acquired its initial data centers in Germany from EXA Infrastructure, another portfolio company of I Squared Capital.

About I Squared Capital

I Squared Capital is an independent global infrastructure investment manager with over $36 billion in assets under management focusing on energy, utilities, digital infrastructure, environmental infrastructure, transport and social infrastructure in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The firm has offices in Miami, Hong Kong, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Taipei, and Sydney.

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Contact information

Andreas Moon
Partner and Head of Investor Relations
I Squared Capital
andreas.moon@isquaredcapital.com