DayOne Closes $4.5B Series C as GDS’ Overseas Unit Eyes $20B IPO

DayOne Data Centers has closed its Series C equity round at $4.5 billion, more than doubling the size of the fundraising since its initial close in January, as the overseas unit of China’s GDS Holdings moves toward a US initial public offering which could value the company at as much as $20 billion.

The final close was led by existing investors Coatue Management and Hillhouse Investment, DayOne’s two largest shareholders, with participation from new investors including Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Indonesia Investment Authority, and Achi Capital Partners.

The raise brings total equity secured by DayOne since its 2022 inception to approximately $6.4 billion, according to Mingtiandi calculations.

Bloomberg reported in January that the Series C initial close  implied a valuation of roughly $10 billion, well below the $20 billion the company has been targeting in its planned listing.

Valuation Rising

GDS Holdings said in its first quarter 2026 earnings release that the market value of its DayOne stake exceeded $2.2 billion at the Series C new issue price following the April upsizing. With GDS holding approximately 19.9 percent of DayOne as of late April, that implies a valuation of more than $11 billion, according to Mingtiandi calculations.

DayOne has selected JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup to work on the planned US listing, which may raise as much as $5 billion, Bloomberg reported in February. The company was close to filing confidentially with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as of mid-March, and is also considering a dual listing in the US and Singapore, Bloomberg reported.

The final close of the Series C completes DayOne’s private capital stack ahead of the listing. DayOne said the company may continue to consider additional equity and debt financing options in the private and public markets, subject to funding needs and market conditions.

Hillhouse Backs Pre-IPO Round

Coatue and Hillhouse are named as co-leads of the Series C for the first time in Friday’s announcement, with Hillhouse having been one of the comany’s early backers. 

The firm led by investor Zhang Lei participated in DayOne’s 2024 funding rounds alongside its real assets arm Rava Partners, Mingtiandi reported in January, but was not named in the Series C initial close announcement. Other existing DayOne backers include Boyu Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund, Tekne Capital, Baupost Group and Citadel chief executive Ken Griffin.

DayOne was established in 2022 as the overseas arm of Shanghai-based GDS Holdings, then known as GDS International, before rebranding early last year. Analysts described the rebrand as an effort to distance the platform from its Chinese parent amid geopolitical risks, while positioning it for a public listing, Mingtiandi reported.

GDS has steadily reduced its stake in the company. In January, DayOne repurchased $385 million in GDS-held ordinary shares at the Series C new issue price, allowing GDS to recycle 95 percent of its original principal at a nearly 6.5 times multiple of money, GDS said. GDS held approximately 19.9 percent of DayOne as of late April, down from an estimated 24 percent before the January repurchase.

Southeast Asia Focus

The Series C proceeds will fund expansion across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Finland and Spain, DayOne said. Since its inception in 2022, the company said it has secured more than 1.5 gigawatts of total bookings across Asia Pacific and Europe, up from approximately 1 gigawatt of secured customer commitments reported at the January initial close.

Malaysia has emerged as DayOne’s largest market across its Asia Pacific operations. DayOne has committed cumulative investment of more than MYR 28 billion ($6.95 billion) in the country by end-2026, and is seeking to expand an existing $3.4 billion loan facility to as much as $7 billion to fund its Malaysia expansion, Bloomberg reported in March, in what would be the largest data centre sector borrowing in Asia.

The Indonesia Investment Authority, which joins the Series C as a new investor, is an existing partner in a DayOne joint venture developing a 72-megawatt campus at Nongsa Digital Park in Batam, an Indonesian island opposite Singapore. Its participation at the Series C level deepens the relationship from the project level to the corporate level.