(Reuters) - Crusoe has raised $600 million in a Series D funding round led by venture capital firm Founders Fund, the artificial intelligence infrastructure provider said on Thursday.

The new fundraise valued Crusoe at $2.8 billion. Other investors in the round included Fidelity, Long Journey Ventures, the United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Nvidia, Ribbit Capital and Valor Equity Partners, the company said.

The latest fundraising will be used to invest in the expansion and growth of data centers and the Crusoe cloud, the startup said.

The rapid evolution of cloud computing and data centers, driven by generative AI, underscores the growing importance of AI infrastructure providers such as Crusoe, Lambda and CoreWeave.

These companies integrate graphics processing units and other tools into their infrastructure to assist enterprises in managing their AI workloads effectively.

Crusoe, which was launched in 2018 as a cryptocurrency business, pivoted to building computing and AI infrastructure using large-scale clean energy.

Over the past year, Crusoe has expanded its collaboration with chipmaker Nvidia, consulting firm Deloitte and computing infrastructure provider VAST Data, among others.

The company has introduced Crusoe Cloud, a new cloud platform aimed at helping developers and data scientists manage AI and machine learning workloads efficiently.

Investors are rushing to support startups capitalizing on the generative AI boom.

Last week, AI firm Nebius Group said it was raising $700 million in a private placement from investors, including Nvidia, to build tools for AI developers.

(Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)