Verda bets on NVIDIA Rubin as demand for AI computing power accelerates
Ruben Bryon, Founder and CEO of Verda (photo: Verda)
Last month, we reported on European AI infrastructure company Verda raising $117 million. Now it has announced plans to deploy NVIDIA's next-generation Rubin systems across Europe, the United States, and Asia-Pacific, as the Helsinki-based company accelerates its expansion in the fast-growing market for artificial intelligence computing infrastructure.
The funding round was announced in April 2026, followed by plans unveiled in early June to become one of the first providers to deploy NVIDIA Vera Rubin (VR200 NVL72) and Rubin (R200) systems at scale during the second half of the year. Verda says its infrastructure footprint is expected to exceed 100,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) during 2027.
The announcements mark another milestone for a company that began life as Finnish startup DataCrunch in 2020 and has since evolved into a significant European AI cloud provider. At a time when access to computing power is becoming a strategic concern for governments, enterprises and AI developers alike, Verda is betting that demand for independent AI infrastructure will continue to grow.
From a local shortage to a global ambition
Verda's story began before generative artificial intelligence became a mainstream phenomenon.
Founder and chief executive officer Ruben Bryon established the company in Helsinki in 2020 after recognising a growing challenge faced by machine learning researchers and AI developers: access to computing power. As AI workloads became more demanding, many organisations struggled to secure sufficient GPU capacity for training and deploying models.
What started as a response to a practical bottleneck has grown into a business operating across multiple markets.
The company secured early support through grants, startup financing and pre-seed funding before raising a €12 million seed round in 2024. A €55 million Series A round followed in September 2025, helping finance the expansion of its AI cloud infrastructure.
In November 2025, the company rebranded from DataCrunch to Verda, reflecting ambitions that extended beyond its original focus and signalling its intention to compete more directly in the global AI infrastructure market.
The latest funding round combines equity investment led by Lifeline Ventures, with participation from byFounders, Tesi, Varma and other investors, alongside debt financing from Nordic financial institutions.
"We're building the next generation of AI cloud infrastructure for pioneering teams across the globe. This funding allows us to double down on development and accelerate our expansion across Europe, the US and Asia," said Bryon.
Verda plans to recruit more than 100 employees during 2026 across engineering, AI research and commercial teams.
Building infrastructure rather than simply renting it
The company's growth comes at a time when AI infrastructure has become one of the most competitive areas of the technology sector.
Training and running advanced AI systems requires specialised hardware, enormous amounts of energy and significant capital investment. While much public attention focuses on AI models and applications, the underlying infrastructure that powers those systems has become a strategic asset in its own right.
Verda differentiates itself through a vertically integrated approach.
Many cloud providers rely heavily on infrastructure owned by larger operators while focusing primarily on software services. Verda instead manages multiple layers of the stack, from hardware procurement and data centre operations to cloud services and AI deployment tools.
Its platform offers self-service GPU instances and clusters, serverless containers and managed inference endpoints.
Inference refers to the process of running trained AI models in production. As enterprises move from experimentation to deployment, demand for inference capacity is expected to increase significantly.
The company argues that cloud computing is moving towards a model where computing resources can be provisioned instantly, without lengthy procurement processes or complex negotiations.
Whether AI agents will eventually play a major role in purchasing computing resources remains uncertain. However, demand for self-service infrastructure and rapid provisioning is already reshaping the cloud computing industry.
A European player in a global market
Verda is also positioning itself around an issue that has become increasingly important across Europe: technological sovereignty.
The company presents itself as a European alternative to major cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. For organisations operating in regulated industries, concerns around data sovereignty, compliance and infrastructure location have become increasingly important.
At the same time, the challenge facing European infrastructure providers remains considerable.
Despite growing investment in AI infrastructure across the continent, the cloud market continues to be dominated by large US-based providers with far greater resources and global reach.
Verda's approach combines European operations with international expansion. The company says its infrastructure runs on 100% renewable energy and benefits from Nordic operating conditions that help improve energy efficiency through reduced cooling requirements.
Security and compliance form another part of its positioning. Verda highlights its confidential computing capabilities and SOC 2 Type II certification, a widely recognised auditing standard that evaluates security controls and operational processes.
As the company expands internationally, maintaining consistent compliance standards across multiple regions will become increasingly important.
Betting on NVIDIA Rubin
Verda's latest announcement centres on access to NVIDIA's forthcoming Rubin architecture.
NVIDIA remains the dominant supplier of AI accelerators, making early access to new hardware generations an important competitive advantage for AI infrastructure providers.
According to Verda, it has been among the first companies in Europe to deploy every major NVIDIA architecture generation since Ampere, including Hopper and Blackwell.
The company now plans to extend that track record with Rubin.
Verda says deployments will begin during the second half of 2026 across Europe, the United States and Asia-Pacific. The rollout is supported by a partner network that includes NVIDIA, ARM, Supermicro and Compal.
"Pioneering teams shouldn't have to choose between latest-generation hardware and being close to their workloads. The partner network we've built is what removes that tradeoff. Our customers get the latest-generation hardware, in the region they need, on the timeline they need it," said Jorge Santos, chief operating officer of Verda.
According to NVIDIA, Rubin has been designed for increasingly demanding workloads including large-scale reasoning models, long-context inference and mixture-of-experts architectures.
Those workloads align closely with the company's existing focus.
Verda says its internal AI Lab operates on the same infrastructure used by customers, allowing engineering teams to gain practical experience with emerging architectures before they become widely available.
"Being early on every NVIDIA generation since Ampere is how Verda AI Lab has built deep architecture expertise, and that translates directly into customer outcomes. We expect Rubin to compound that advantage," Bryon said.
Growth, competition and execution
Verda's recent growth has been notable.
The company reports that operations are cash-flow positive and that its revenue run rate exceeded $60 million during the first quarter of 2026, more than doubling year-on-year. Customers include Nokia, ExpressVPN, Freepik and robotics company 1X.
Yet AI infrastructure remains one of the most capital-intensive segments of the technology industry.
Building AI data centres, securing power capacity and acquiring large numbers of GPUs requires continuous investment. Competition comes not only from hyperscale cloud providers but also from a growing number of specialist AI infrastructure companies seeking to capitalise on surging demand.
Verda's ambition to expand simultaneously across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific will test its ability to scale while maintaining infrastructure availability, customer support and operational efficiency.
The infrastructure layer is becoming strategic
For much of the past decade, conversations about Europe's AI ambitions focused on research, regulation, and startup creation.
Today, the discussion increasingly centres on infrastructure.
Access to computing power is becoming a critical factor in determining who can train advanced models, deploy AI applications and compete internationally. As a result, companies that provide AI cloud infrastructure are becoming increasingly important participants in the wider AI ecosystem.
Verda has already travelled a considerable distance from its origins as a Helsinki startup addressing a local computing shortage.
Its next phase will be measured less by funding announcements and more by execution. Deploying Rubin infrastructure across three continents, scaling towards more than 100,000 GPUs and maintaining profitability will test whether a European AI infrastructure company can compete on the same stage as far larger global rivals.
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