Nikhil Kamath invests Rs 200 Cr in CtrlS as hyperscale data centre operator raises Rs 250Cr

• ByStartupStory     |    August 20, 2026

CtrlS, one of India’s largest hyperscale data-centre operators, has raised Rs 250 crore from entrepreneur-investors Nikhil Kamath and Sreeram Reddy Vanga. Kamath has invested Rs 200 crore, while Vanga has contributed Rs 50 crore. The funding will support CtrlS’s infrastructure expansion and capacity build-out across India.

The investment comes at a time when demand for data-centre capacity is rising rapidly. Businesses are moving more workloads to the cloud, while artificial intelligence is creating a new need for powerful computing and storage infrastructure. Every online service, AI application, digital payment, and cloud platform depends on data centres operating reliably in the background.

CtrlS is building an underlying infrastructure for enterprise customers, cloud providers, and hyperscalers. The company currently operates 19 data centres with more than 370 megawatts of capacity, while projects representing about 4.4 gigawatts are under execution.

For CtrlS, the fresh capital will help finance the next stage of this expansion. Data centres require significant investment in land, buildings, power systems, cooling equipment, network connectivity, and security. They also need dependable access to electricity and the ability to operate continuously, making capacity expansion both expensive and operationally complex.

The investment is therefore more than a financial bet on a single company. It reflects confidence in the larger growth of India’s digital infrastructure. As more organisations use cloud services and AI tools, demand for local data-centre capacity is expected to increase. Companies also want their data and computing systems to be closer to their customers, while meeting security and regulatory requirements.

Nikhil Kamath’s participation gives the transaction additional attention. The Zerodha co-founder has become an active investor across different sectors, but this investment places him directly behind a capital-intensive business that supports the digital economy. Vanga’s participation adds another entrepreneur-investor to the round. 

The funding follows a much larger investment in CtrlS. In June, the company raised Rs 7,000 crore from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board at a reported valuation of $4.7 billion. Together, the transactions show how data-centre businesses are attracting both institutional capital and individual investors.

CtrlS now has the opportunity to accelerate its expansion while demand for AI and cloud infrastructure continues to grow. However, the company will also face challenges around power availability, construction timelines, operating costs, and competition from other major data-centre providers.

If it can deliver its planned capacity efficiently, CtrlS could strengthen its position as an important part of India’s digital backbone. The latest Rs 250 crore investment gives the company additional support as it prepares for a more data-intensive and AI-driven future.

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