Expanse raises $5.3 million to eliminate guesswork from AI computing

Seed funding will accelerate development of software that brings compute certainty to AI infrastructure by predicting exactly what every workload needs before it runs

SAN FRANCISCO and LONDON, Sept. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Expanse, the AI infrastructure company bringing compute certainty to every AI workload, today announced a $5.3 million seed funding round led by Crane Venture Partners, with participation from PXN Ventures and angel investors including former DeepMind researchers and leaders from AI infrastructure teams.

Every AI workload begins with a decision no engineer can answer with certainty

GPUs have become one of the world’s most constrained resources, yet much of that capacity sits underutilised. Every AI workload begins with uncertainty. Engineers must estimate how many GPUs, CPUs, how much memory and how long their code will run before execution begins. Those estimates determine how billions of dollars of infrastructure are allocated every day. Industry estimates suggest approximately 30% of cloud spend is lost through over-allocation, while Microsoft Research has reported GPU utilisation of around 50% across many internal deep learning workloads.

Expanse eliminates that guesswork

Its software predicts exactly what an AI workload requires before it runs, recommending the optimal GPU, CPU, memory and runtime configuration before any resources are committed. By right-sizing workloads ahead of execution, organisations can complete significantly more work using the infrastructure they already own, reducing failed jobs, increasing utilisation and avoiding unnecessary investment in additional compute.

Unlike traditional monitoring and observability platforms, which explain what happened after a workload has finished, Expanse works before execution begins. Installed directly into an organisation’s cloud or on-premises infrastructure, its models analyse workloads without code or telemetry ever leaving the customer’s environment, allowing organisations to optimise performance while maintaining complete data sovereignty.

“Today, every AI workload begins with an educated guess,” said Ismaeel Bashir, co-founder and CEO of Expanse. “Engineers shouldn’t have to predict exactly how much compute their code will need before they press run. The machine should carry the uncertainty, not the person.”

The timing reflects a growing challenge across the industry. New GPU capacity can take months to procure, while power, cooling and planning constraints are making it increasingly difficult to expand data centres. For many organisations, improving utilisation of existing infrastructure is faster, cheaper and more practical than adding more hardware.

Expanse was founded by four University of Edinburgh graduate engineers who previously built and operated large-scale compute infrastructure across quantitative finance and national supercomputing facilities. While at the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC), part of the University of Edinburgh, co-founder Ismaeel Bashir developed a multimodal HPC resource prediction system that set a new benchmark for predicting resource requirements across HPC workloads. Together, Bashir and co-founders Nikodem Bieniek, Eren Mendi, Yafet Melake recognised that even the world’s most sophisticated compute environments still relied on manual estimation to allocate resources efficiently.

That experience has already translated into measurable customer outcomes. In one production deployment, Expanse identified nearly $8 million of idle compute capacity in a single month, highlighting the scale of untapped infrastructure sitting inside many organisations.

“Everyone, from hyperscalers to start-ups, struggles to make efficient use of their most valuable resource: GPU hours. Mapping a constant stream of workloads across shared infrastructure with competing priorities and unpredictable computational demands remains one of the hardest problems in AI infrastructure,” said Greg Steinbrecher.

“The future of AI won't be defined only by who builds the biggest clusters, but by who uses them most intelligently,” said Scott Sage, Co-Founder and Partner at Crane Venture Partners. “Expanse gives organisations something they don't have today: certainty. By predicting exactly what every workload needs before it runs, customers recover existing capacity, reduce waste and extend the life of some of the world's most valuable infrastructure. We believe that's a new and important category in AI infrastructure.”

Andy Barrow, Managing Director of PXN Ventures, said: “The widespread adoption of AI by businesses and everyday users has led to an unprecedented focus on the infrastructure required to service this technology and many of the challenges that engineers face. As Expanse has identified, one of those challenges is optimisation and helping businesses to make better use of their compute resource, which can lower running costs and increase scalability. PXN is proud to be backing Ismaeel and the team, who are tackling this head on.”

Expanse will use the funding to expand its engineering team, accelerate product development and bring its platform to more organisations across AI infrastructure, quantitative finance, life sciences, research and high performance computing.

About Expanse

Expanse delivers compute certainty for AI infrastructure. Its software predicts exactly what every AI workload needs before it runs, helping organisations reduce over-allocation, prevent failed jobs and unlock more value from the GPU infrastructure they already own. Installed directly within customer environments, Expanse keeps code and telemetry private while optimising workloads across cloud and on-premises high performance computing clusters. Learn more at expanse.sh.

About Crane

Crane makes high-conviction investments in foundational technologies at the earliest stages, backing outlier founders around the world from inception through seed. Our commitment extends beyond initial funding; we remain deeply involved as trusted partners, offering hands-on support through critical company-building moments and helping founders refine go-to-market strategies and scale globally.

Since 2015, we’ve backed category-defining companies across post-quantum security, robotics, infrastructure software, developer innovation, and AI systems. With a global perspective spanning Europe, North America, APAC, India and beyond, we help outlier founders build companies that redefine what’s possible.

First to believe. Last to leave. More at www.crane.vc

About PXN Ventures

PXN Ventures is the venture capital arm of PXN Group, formed as a result of two of the North's best fund managers (Praetura Ventures and Par Equity) coming together to create an investor that the region deserves. With offices in Manchester, Edinburgh, Leeds and London, we deliver world-class investment programmes at scale to help build the Northern economy, supporting founders across a diverse range of sectors, including deep tech, life sciences and software.

PXN Ventures is committed to backing early-stage founders across the North of the UK, with a long and growing list of northern success stories in our portfolio that have received early backing from PXN, including Modern Milkman, Phlo, AccessPay, Street Group and Advanced Electric Machines. As well as its EIS, VCT and institutional funds, including the GMC Life Sciences Fund II, PXN Ventures is the North West fund manager for the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, which is managed on behalf of the British Business Bank.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d25aa590-5ea3-45f0-9276-70604e797a86

Media Contact

David Oro for Crane Venture Partners
crane@orogroup.com