Verda AI cloud funding round hits $189M, valuation tops $1B, Bloomberg reports

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A Helsinki-based cloud computing company has just landed one of the more eye-catching funding hauls in Europe’s artificial intelligence sector this year. Verda, the company formerly known as DataCrunch, has closed financing that pushes its total capital raised to somewhere between $200 million and $219 million across multiple rounds — a Verda AI cloud funding push aimed squarely at challenging the dominance of America’s biggest cloud providers. Bloomberg, which covered the same round, put the latest tranche at $189 million and reported that the company is now valued at more than $1 billion.

Key takeaways

Verda’s total capital raised sits between $200 million and $219 million across several funding rounds; Bloomberg reported the most recent tranche specifically at $189 million, with the company valued at more than $1 billion.
The round was initially announced at $117 million and extended to $155 million after the Nordic Investment Bank joined; equity was led by Lifeline Ventures with debt financing from Nordic financial institutions, though Bloomberg names Emergence Capital as lead investor alongside Lifeline Ventures and others.
Verda’s revenue run rate exceeded $60 million in Q1 2026, and the company is targeting $100 million by mid-2026 while planning to hire more than 100 employees by the end of the year.
Its data centers in Finland and Iceland run on 100% renewable energy, and the company holds NVIDIA Preferred Partner status while planning to add Arm’s AGI CPU to its infrastructure.
Verda is positioning itself as a European-first alternative to AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, with expansion plans reaching the UK, US, and Asia.

A Verda AI cloud funding round that kept growing

The story behind this Verda AI cloud funding round is less a single announcement than a moving target. The raise was initially pitched at $117 million before being extended to $155 million once the Nordic Investment Bank joined as a participant. That extension, layered on top of earlier rounds, brought Verda’s cumulative capital raised to an estimated $200 million to $219 million.

Bloomberg’s own reporting on the round lands on a different headline number — $189 million — and adds names not mentioned in Verda’s own account: Emergence Capital as lead investor, alongside MUFG Innovation Partners, Super Micro Computer, and Varma Mutual Pension Insurance. Lifeline Ventures appears in both versions of the story, though the two accounts diverge on exactly who led the check. Verda itself describes the equity portion of the raise as led by Lifeline Ventures, with debt financing supplied by Nordic financial institutions. Bloomberg, meanwhile, lists Lifeline Ventures among a wider group of participants behind an Emergence Capital-led round, and puts Verda’s valuation at north of $1 billion without disclosing an exact figure.

Recent funding round extension and financing structure

Either way, the shape of the deal points to a company blending traditional venture equity with regional development financing — a combination that reflects Verda’s Nordic roots as much as its AI ambitions. The involvement of a development bank alongside private equity investors suggests financing partners see infrastructure-heavy AI computing as a long-horizon bet, not a quick flip.

Revenue growth and hiring plans

Verda’s revenue growth trajectory helps explain the investor interest. The company posted a revenue run rate exceeding $60 million in the first quarter of 2026 and is targeting $100 million by mid-year. That growth builds on a $13 million seed round raised in 2024 and a $64 million Series A that followed in 2025, with Verda now describing itself as cash-flow positive. To keep pace with demand, the company plans to hire more than 100 employees by the end of 2026.

Green energy data centers and advanced infrastructure

Verda’s pitch to customers rests heavily on where — and how — its computing power gets generated. The company runs data centers in Finland and Iceland, both powered entirely by renewable energy. That matters because AI compute is notoriously power-hungry, and buyers increasingly weigh a provider’s energy sourcing alongside raw performance.

Data centers in Finland and Iceland powered by 100% renewable energy

Running on 100% renewable power gives Verda a selling point that’s becoming harder to ignore as AI workloads strain electricity grids elsewhere. It also ties directly into the company’s broader pitch around European data sovereignty — infrastructure that stays within European jurisdiction and runs on regionally sourced clean power.

Partnership with NVIDIA and planned integration of Arm’s AGI CPU

On the hardware side, Verda holds status as a recognized NVIDIA Preferred Partner, which gives it access to Nvidia’s latest GPU systems and the surrounding ecosystem support that comes with that designation. The company also plans to integrate Arm’s AGI CPU into its infrastructure alongside those Nvidia GPUs, a move that would pair general-purpose processing with the GPU horsepower AI workloads typically demand.

Positioning and global expansion strategy

Verda frames itself as a European-first alternative to the American hyperscalers that currently dominate cloud computing — AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. That positioning matters for European enterprises and public-sector buyers weighing where sensitive workloads should live, particularly as data sovereignty rules gain more attention across the continent.

European-first positioning against US hyperscalers

Founded in 2020 as DataCrunch, the company rebranded as Verda in late 2025. Its pitch centers on full-stack vertical integration: physical data centers, networking, and developer tools built and controlled end-to-end, rather than assembled from third-party pieces. That approach is designed to appeal to organizations that want infrastructure aligned with European regulatory expectations rather than routed through US-headquartered providers.

Expansion roadmap covering UK, US, and Asia markets

Despite the European branding, Verda’s ambitions aren’t confined to the continent. The company’s expansion roadmap includes the UK, the US, and Asia — markets where it will be competing directly against the hyperscalers it positions itself against at home. Whether a European sovereignty pitch travels well into markets already saturated by AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure remains an open question, but it signals that Verda sees its renewable-powered, vertically integrated model as a broader competitive proposition rather than a regional niche.

FAQ

How much funding has Verda raised to date?

Verda has raised between $200 million and $219 million across multiple funding rounds. Bloomberg reported the most recent round specifically at $189 million, with the company valued at more than $1 billion.