Finland’s Verda has collected €164.8M ($189M) in fresh capital, a raise that pushes the Helsinki AI cloud provider into unicorn territory.
The financing centres on an oversubscribed Series B led by Emergence Capital, with MUFG Innovation Partners, Supermicro, Varma, Lifeline Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital, byFounders and Tesi joining. Angels including Meta’s Ola Tørudbakken also took part.
Founded in 2020 by Ruben Bryon and known until last November as DataCrunch, Verda runs its own data centres, hardware and cloud platform. Its Finnish sites draw on 100% renewable power, leaning on Nordic electricity prices and cool air for cheap cooling.
The pitch is landing. Verda reported a €143.85M ($165M) annualised revenue run rate in July and has now raised more than €392M in total, including an April equity round of nearly €102M. A €22M loan from the Nordic Investment Bank followed.
Why the round matters
Europe’s AI build-out has been constrained less by demand than by access to compute. Neoclouds such as Verda sell capacity that startups and enterprises can rent without committing to hyperscaler contracts.
Bryon frames the timing as decisive for the continent: “AI is becoming critical infrastructure across industries, and the next few years are a pivotal window for Europe.”
The money is earmarked for more compute, product work and expansion across Europe, the US and Asia, a footprint that will test whether a Nordic operator can compete on price against US rivals of far greater scale.
