# Josh Payne

Founder and CEO, Nscale. TIME100 AI 2026, Leaders. He dropped out of high school to work three years as a coal miner in Australia; now his AI data-centre company is going public at a target $30 billion valuation. ([europeancapitalist.com](https://europeancapitalist.com/this-ceo-went-from-coal-mines-to-a-30-billion-ai-data-center-ipo-investors-arent-convinced-yet/))

- Born: 1993, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia ([certifiedstrategic.com](https://certifiedstrategic.com/insights/josh-payne-nscale-arkon-energy-melbourne-bitcoin-miner-nyse))

- Career: Nscale (Founder and CEO, 2023 to now); Arkon Energy (Founder and Executive Chairman, 2020–2023) ([afr.com](https://www.afr.com/technology/nscale-founder-joshua-payne-in-line-for-near-500m-ipo-pay-day-20260921-p60z30), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-payne), [computerweekly.com](https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Nscale-explained-Everything-you-need-to-know))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/josh-payne/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/josh-payne

- Left school at 17 and took a job at a coal mine in Australia, with no university degree. ([regolith.com](https://regolith.com/news/nscale-ipo-josh-payne-ai-data-centers-163))
- Spent about three years underground on twelve-hour shifts, reading entrepreneurship books on his breaks. ([entrepreneurplus.co.uk](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/how-nscales-founder-ended-up-building-uks-ai-infrastructure/))
- His first big company mined bitcoin on cheap hydropower in Norway and the US, reaching 330 megawatts and $110 million raised by late 2023. ([europeancapitalist.com](https://europeancapitalist.com/this-ceo-went-from-coal-mines-to-a-30-billion-ai-data-center-ipo-investors-arent-convinced-yet/))
- Filed to list Nscale on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2026, two years and four months after spinning it out. ([certifiedstrategic.com](https://certifiedstrategic.com/insights/josh-payne-nscale-arkon-energy-melbourne-bitcoin-miner-nyse))
- Nscale says it has signed $103 billion in contracts, but as of August 2026 had delivered 55 megawatts of computing power. ([europeancapitalist.com](https://europeancapitalist.com/this-ceo-went-from-coal-mines-to-a-30-billion-ai-data-center-ipo-investors-arent-convinced-yet/))
- Predicts the biggest companies of the next five years will be AI-native, "and I very much intend to be one of them." ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/josh-payne/))