Former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Liberal Democrats leader Sir Nick Clegg has been tipped for a £30million windfall from a UK tech firm he joined half a year ago.

The politician who moved on to work for Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook parent company Meta more recently took a stake in data centre and AI start-up Nscale.

Now that business is about to start trading on New York's Wall Street – potentially bringing in substantial profits for investors including Sir Nick, 59.

He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister alongside Conservative then-PM David Cameron in the coalition government between 2010 and 2015.

Sir Nick later joined Facebook as vice-president, global affairs and communications, in 2018, before becoming Meta's president for global affairs in 2022 then announcing his departure in January last year. 

He reportedly has 917,460 shares in Nscale as one of its board members, about 0.12 per cent of the existing stock.

The company last week announced having filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

The present valuation for the firm is $14.6billion (£10.9billion), which would put Sir Nick's stake at about $18million (£13.5million).

Yet reports have suggested Nscale could look for a $35billion (£26.2billion) valuation, increasing the possible benefits for Sir Nick to $42million (£31.5million). 

Sir Nick sold Meta shares with an estimated value of about £24million between 2022 and 2024, according to recent filings.

Sir Nick joined Nscale's board in March this year, as did his former Meta colleague Sheryl Sandberg who was that company's chief operating officer between 2008 and 2022 and served on the board of directors until 2024. 

London-based Nscale was set up in May 2024 by co-founders Josh Payne and Nathan Townsend and has said it hopes to have a first data centre up and running in Loughton, Essex, early next year.

The company has insisted it remains committed to being based in the UK despite opting for New York for its flotation. 

Mr Payne wrote in Nscale's IPO filing last Friday how he saw 'a significant and growing opportunity in sovereign AI, as nations increasingly seek to build and control their own AI infrastructure and capability rather than rely on others'.

He added: 'Nscale is well positioned to serve this demand as a trusted, sovereign-capable platform.

'This is particularly true in Europe, where the need for sovereign AI infrastructure is especially acute, and where our British domicile positions us as a natural, trusted partner.'

Nscale previously said of Sir Nick's involvement: 'We believe Mr Clegg’s extensive experience in global public policy, international government affairs, and technology industry leadership, as well as his deep relationships with government and regulatory bodies worldwide, make him qualified to serve on our board of directors.'

Sir Nick previously became Deputy Prime Minister following the general election in May 2010, having overseen the Lib Dems' MP count going from 62 to 57.

He faced criticism including after the referendum defeat for the party's flagship policy for electoral reform and also backtracking on opposition to hiking students' university tuition fees.

The Liberal Democrats were reduced to just eight seats in the 2015 general election which gave David Cameron's Conservatives a Commons majority of their own.