A Swedish startup aiming to construct a hyperscale cloud firm in Europe has raised €50.6 million ($55 million) in Series A funding. Evroc, because it’s referred to as, says it’s laying the foundations for a “safe, sovereign and sustainable hyperscale cloud to reimagine the digital way forward for Europe.”
The announcement comes amid rising calls to create a European tech stack, one unbiased of U.S. tech corporations and the shifting political panorama. Just this week, a coalition from throughout Europe’s tech trade referred to as for “radical motion” from lawmakers to cut back the area’s reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure, pushing for homegrown alternate options to apps, AI fashions, chips and the complete gamut of cloud companies.
Evroc goals to capitalize on this momentum. The three-year-old firm plans to construct information facilities and an array of cloud companies. At its launch in 2023, Evroc outlined plans to ascertain eight information facilities by 2028. Today, it says it has two co-location amenities in Stockholm and one other two in Paris.
By the tip of second quarter of this yr, the corporate expects to have two extra amenities operational in Frankfurt, with work already underway on its first flagship information facilities in Sweden and France, scheduled for completion in 2026 with AI workloads as a main focus.
“They [….] are designed for the vitality density required for AI, the place racks can eat 20 instances what a conventional server rack can,” Evroc CEO and founder Mattias Åström (pictured above) informed TechCrunch. “Both shall be outfitted with liquid cooling however can even host compute and storage servers.”
Evroc’s formal launch is slated for later this yr, with Åström including that it’s already working with early beta prospects in industries requiring a “excessive want for sovereignty,” together with protection, public sector, well being care and monetary companies. He additionally hinted at extra information facilities coming subsequent yr, although the corporate isn’t prepared to verify specifics.
Digital sovereignty
Europe’s digital sovereignty agenda is nothing new. In truth, most U.S. tech giants are already investing in native infrastructure to make sure compliance with EU information residency laws. AI darling OpenAI additionally just lately unveiled a brand new providing that enables prospects to course of and retailer information in Europe.
But with geopolitical tensions on the rise, Åström argues that management over Europe’s infrastructure issues extra than simply server places.
For instance, Donald Trump final month signed an government order authorizing financial sanctions in opposition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) within the Netherlands, accusing it of “illegitimate and baseless actions” in opposition to the U.S. and Israel. These sanctions have an effect on how tech corporations can serve organizations, with a Guardian report indicating that the ICC depends closely on Microsoft’s Azure cloud for storing information.
Elsewhere, Elon Musk — now a central determine in U.S. governmental operations — has beforehand admitted to throttling Ukrainian entry to Starlink satellites, operated by his firm SpaceX. More just lately, he claimed that Ukraine’s complete frontline would collapse if he selected to show it off. Although Musk later backtracked, the incident served as yet one more reminder of the significance of infrastructure independence. And it’s additionally why the EU is forging forward with plans for a personal sovereign satellite tv for pc constellation to rival Starlink.
“I merely need Europe to regulate its personal future,” Åström stated. “And whereas we’re at it, attempt to construct one thing that’s higher.”
Geopolitical turmoil apart, the AI revolution signifies that organizations beforehand reliant on on-premises infrastructure should now contemplate the cloud to completely leverage AI.
Several European startups are already constructing cloud infrastructure in Europe, together with France’s FlexAI, Finland’s DataCrunch, and Nebius within the Netherlands — an entity that emerged from the ashes of Yandex final yr.
However, whereas many of those gamers give attention to AI computing, Evroc goals to construct an intensive, developer-friendly hyperscale cloud that’s extra akin to AWS and its ilk.
The bulk of Evroc’s 60-plus staff are targeted on software program improvement, unfold throughout Sweden, France, and the U.Ok. Åström famous the London hub wasn’t initially deliberate however grew to become crucial to draw prime expertise from main tech corporations.
“I’m truly very enthusiastic about our London workplace — that wasn’t a part of the preliminary plan, however so as to get extraordinarily good individuals which are working for the hyperscalers, it was the correct resolution,” Åström stated.
Show me the cash
When Evroc launched out of stealth two years in the past with €13 million in funding, Åström informed TechCrunch he deliberate to lift as a lot as €3 billion in capital inside a few years. By August of final yr, information broke that Evroc had raised €42 million as a part of its Series A, and now the spherical has closed at €50.6 million with investments from U.S.-European enterprise agency Blisce, EQT Ventures, Norrsken VC, and Giant Ventures.
There is not any escaping the elephant within the room, although. Building something near what the hyperscalers have constructed requires a near-bottomless pit of money — so does Evroc nonetheless plan to lift billions?
“That’s nonetheless the case, however the important thing right here is [first] getting that software program stack,” Åström continued. “Europe has loads of information facilities, however we don’t actually have that cloud. This fairness spherical is basically serving to us construct the software program stack.”
The firm plans to lift considerably extra capital later in 2025, following a funding mannequin just like different cloud infrastructure gamers resembling CoreWeave, which has grown its footprint by borrowing in opposition to collateral resembling Nvidia chips.
“Building out information facilities would require loads of extra funding, however the excellent news is that you could finance that with debt,” Åström stated.
