Verda raises €164.8m as AI cloud expansion brings unicorn status

Verda secures €164.8m with Emergence Capital backing

Helsinki-based AI infrastructure company Verda has raised €164.8m ($189m), reaching unicorn status as it prepares to scale its AI cloud business, according to EU-Startups. The financing combines an oversubscribed Series B led by Emergence Capital with additional investment; the report does not provide a separate value for the Series B.

Participants include MUFG Innovation Partners, Supermicro, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Lifeline Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital, byFounders and Tesi, also known as Finnish Industry Investment Ltd. Angel investors include Ola Tørudbakken of Meta and Mark Saroufim of Core Auto and GPUMODE, EU-Startups reported.

The latest financing takes Verda’s total funding above €392.3m ($450m). It follows a €143.85m ($165m) annualised revenue run rate reached in July 2026 and a €22m loan from the Nordic Investment Bank. The revenue figure is an annualised measure, rather than reported revenue for a completed financial year.

From DataCrunch to an integrated Finnish AI cloud

Ruben Bryon founded the company in 2020. Verda describes its business as spanning the infrastructure behind AI services, from physical data centres and hardware through to its cloud platform and AI research, according to EU-Startups. That scope places both the underlying equipment and the software services within its stated remit.

Verda says its Finnish data centres use entirely renewable electricity. The company points to the Nordic region’s clean power supply and favourable cooling conditions as advantages for running computing infrastructure. These are company claims reported by EU-Startups, rather than an independent assessment of its environmental performance.

The business traded as DataCrunch until November 2025. Its new name, Verda, combines references to the Spanish word for truth and the Esperanto word for green, the company said. The rebranding was intended to connect its technology ambitions with its commitment to sustainability.

Verda’s fundraising accelerated before the latest announcement. A €12m seed round in 2024 was followed by a €55m Series A in September 2025, led by byFounders, Skaala, Varma and Tesi. In April 2026, Lifeline Ventures led a further equity financing of nearly €102m ($117m), EU-Startups reported.

Elsewhere in Europe’s cloud sector, Market Entry Wire has reported on Cycloid joining the European Commission’s €180m cloud framework. That is a separate development involving public procurement, rather than the private investment financing Verda’s growth.

Bryon sets out a broader European technology ambition

Bryon, Verda’s founder and chief executive, presented AI infrastructure as the foundation for a wider European technology business. In comments reported by EU-Startups, he described the coming years as an important opportunity for Europe as AI becomes essential across industries. He also identified reducing the worldwide carbon footprint of computing as a central ambition, while acknowledging that substantial work remains.

Joe Floyd, a general partner at Emergence Capital, offered the investor’s case for backing Verda. According to EU-Startups, he argued that demand for AI computing is outstripping supply by an increasing margin. His assessment centred on Verda’s speed in securing capacity and the combination of technology, ambition and momentum that he believes could make it a significant infrastructure provider. That is an investor’s outlook, not a confirmed forecast of market demand.

More compute capacity and expansion beyond London

Verda intends to direct the new capital towards product development throughout its AI cloud, including computing resources and platform services for teams developing frontier AI. EU-Startups reported that the company is positioning this work around agentic AI, extending the investment agenda beyond hardware alone.

Inference is another planned area of investment. Verda also expects to increase its computing capacity over the next year, although the source gives no numerical target for that increase. These plans establish the next operational priorities without specifying how much of the financing will go to each activity.

The company has recently opened offices in London and San Francisco and plans further expansion across Europe, the United States and Asia. It already operates internationally, employing about 250 people representing more than 40 nationalities, according to EU-Startups.

For businesses entering the UK or European markets, the distinction between offices and infrastructure remains important: a new commercial presence does not, by itself, establish where customer workloads will run. EU-Startups does not identify the next expansion destinations or announce additional data-centre locations, leaving those details to be established as Verda develops its international footprint.