DataCrunch raises $64M to build European-based AI hyperscaler using green energy – News

Helsinki, Finland-based DataCrunch Oy, a provider of high-performance artificial intelligence infrastructure, said today it raised €55 million, around $64 million, in early funding to scale its compute platform in an ambitious bid to become Europe’s first AI cloud hyperscaler.

The Series A round was led by byFounders, Skaala, Varma pension fund and Tesi, with additional participation from J12 Ventures and select angel investors. The round also included a portion of debt financing led by Nordea and Armada Credit Partners with participation from Danske Bank, Norion Bank and Local Tapiola.

Founded in 2020, DataCrunch has already made a name for itself across European markets by providing a one-stop platform for AI development, training and inference run on AI-optimized compute clusters. The company is one of the first globally to deploy Nvidia Corp.’s HGX B200 systems and will soon integrate B300 and GB300.

Europe is a rapidly growing AI market, projected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2033, according to market analyst Market Data Forecast. United States-based tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc., Google LLC and Microsoft Corp. currently control a majority of the European cloud market, including AI workloads, representing almost 70% of the share.

DataCrunch aims to address this imbalance by offering secure, scalable regional data and AI services for local businesses.

“European organisations are facing a critical choice: continue depending on foreign cloud providers or invest in local infrastructure that offers true data sovereignty,” said Ruben Bryon, chief executive and co-founder of DataCrunch. “This funding enables us to accelerate our vision of becoming Europe’s first AI cloud hyperscaler, providing enterprises with cutting-edge infrastructure that keeps their data secure, their operations compliant, and their environmental impact minimal.”

The company currently operates four data centers based in Finland and Iceland, and has plans to purchase 10 hectares in Finland to build a new data center. DataCrunch also submitted a proposal to the European Commission for the development of an AI gigafactory in Latvia, which would be committed to AI model training and inference.

Recent releases from the company include clusters for distributing AI workloads, serverless containers powering high-scale, low-latency AI inference at scale. Looking ahead, the company said it intends to release managed Kubernetes for cluster management and geographically distributed storage, as well as a wide range of improvements to its existing platform.

Finland and Iceland are also at the forefront of the green energy transition, which is why the company chose to position its data centers in these Nordic countries. According to DataCrunch, its data center campuses are powered by 100% renewable energy and use state-of-the-art hardware and software optimizations to achieve the highest possible efficiency.

The company added that it intends to maintain the commitment to 100% renewable sources even as it scales out its data center operations to hyperscaler levels, an achievement rarely seen in the industry.

“As regulatory, environmental, and technological forces converge, the company aims to become the default platform for enterprises seeking high-performance, compliant and sustainable AI compute in Europe,” added Byron.

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