Verda, the Helsinki-based AI cloud infrastructure company formerly known as DataCrunch, has raised $117 million in new funding. The round combines equity led by Lifeline Ventures with participation from byFounders, Tesi, and Varma. Nordic financial institutions provided additional debt financing. The company plans to hire more than 100 people by the end of 2026. It will also launch in the UK and US this year, with further expansion into Asia to follow.
What sets this raise apart is Verda’s financial profile. Most AI infrastructure operators are heavily loss-making at this stage. Verda, however, is already cash-flow positive. Its annualized revenue run rate doubled to over $60 million during the first quarter of 2026. Founded in 2020 by Ruben Bryon, the company operates a vertically integrated model. It covers everything from physical servers and data centers to developer tools and AI services. That structure drives operational efficiency and allows Verda to maintain profitability while scaling aggressively.
What Verda Is Building
Verda’s data centers in Finland run entirely on renewable energy. The company leverages the Nordic region’s natural advantages in clean electricity and cooling efficiency. Additionally, it holds Nvidia Preferred Partner status, giving it priority access to the latest GPU hardware. Its customers include Nokia, 1X, ExpressVPN, and Freepik. A dedicated AI Lab team works directly with customers to optimize model performance and inference. That team differentiates Verda from pure infrastructure providers who leave optimization entirely to the customer.
As covered in our analysis of the rise of inference clouds, vertically integrated operators with sovereign compliance credentials are increasingly well-positioned as European enterprises face growing pressure to keep AI workloads within GDPR-compliant infrastructure.
Why This Raise Matters
“We’re building the next generation of AI cloud infrastructure for pioneering teams across the globe,” said Ruben Bryon, founder and CEO of Verda. “This funding allows us to double down on development and accelerate our expansion across Europe, the US and Asia.”
The company rebranded from DataCrunch to Verda in November 2025. That pivot signaled a strategic shift from GPU compute provider toward a broader sovereign AI cloud platform. Furthermore, with $117 million in fresh capital, cash-flow positive operations, and Nvidia GPU priority access, Verda enters the US and UK markets as one of the few European AI cloud operators with the financial discipline to credibly compete with US-based neoclouds at scale.
