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Pysy sivulla | Siirry aiheeseen liittyvälle suomenkieliselle sivulleVerda, formerly known as DataCrunch, is a fast-growing AI-focused cloud provider from the Nordics. In the rapidly evolving cloud industry, Verda is addressing the growing demand for specialised infrastructure tailored to AI workloads.
Verda’s goal is to accelerate AI projects by addressing infrastructure challenges. The company provides self-service instances and clusters, serverless containers and managed inference endpoints, enabling AI teams to concentrate on building effective models and products. Tuukka Saukkonen from Verda explains their approach:
“We focus on a full-stack cloud platform, which enables a super flexible way of using compute. Most competitors cover only parts of the stack, which limits their long-term differentiation. Verda is the only fully European player pursuing this approach. Customers like us, especially because of the flexible access to state-of-the-art AI compute. ”
This customer-centric strategy has resonated well with AI developers seeking efficient and adaptable computing solutions.
The opportunity is massive. The market size will grow to hundreds of billions in Europe alone. Our target is to become the leading European cloud provider.
Verda’s journey from a local tech meetup to a serious player in the AI cloud market is impressive. It all began in 2020 when Verda’s founder, Ruben Bryon, attended a machine learning gathering in Helsinki. Tuukka recalls:
“In 2020 Ruben had moved to Helsinki, and in a machine learning meetup, there were a lot of people interested in AI. They were discussing that there was no available compute to train any models. Ruben had done some cloud rendering earlier, so he knew how to set up the compute, and that was how Verda got started.
“Our initial philosophy was to democratise AI. Everyone started using that slogan, so we are not publicly using it anymore, but I have to say that it’s still one of our underlying beliefs,” explains Tuukka.
Scaling a hardware-intensive startup requires significant capital and a well-planned funding strategy. Verda has navigated this challenge through a mix of financing options, with Nordea playing a crucial role as a financial partner.
Tuukka outlines their financing journey: “When we first started, we had some savings and that way we got the first servers operational. In 2021 we raised our pre-seed round, received a grant from ELY-keskus, raised a convertible note and secured a 150,000 loan from Nordea. In total, the financing package was close to 1 million euro. In the early days, customer prepayments also played a crucial role in funding our growth.
The company’s growth trajectory continued with a Series A round in 2025, raising a total of 55 million euro. The round included both equity and debt capital. Their funding strategy has always been a mix of different funding options.
Nordea’s Startup & Growth team understands the basic fundamentals of startups and growth companies and most importantly that they are slightly different from traditional companies.
Verda’s partnership with Nordea has been instrumental in their expansion. Tuukka highlights the importance of this relationship: “Nordea’s Startup & Growth team understands the basic fundamentals of startups and growth companies and most importantly that they are slightly different from traditional companies. If we showed ambitious goals, they were not seen as red flags.”
He emphasises the value of having financial partners who understand the unique needs of scale-ups and can provide tailored solutions as the company grows.
“It’s important that financiers understand the stage of the company as scale-ups and their needs are so much different from the needs of early stage startups. As the financing needs grow, it’s important to have the right people within the organisation engaged in the dialogue and a deal team in place to ensure a speedy delivery,” Tuukka concludes.
With the increasing adoption of AI, Verda’s timing is advantageous. The company has maintained a clear focus on its goals and execution strategy.
Looking ahead, Tuukka outlines their ambitious vision: “The opportunity is massive. The market size will grow to hundreds of billions in Europe alone. Our target is to become the leading European cloud provider. This means having a global customer reach, a best-in-class product globally and a dominant presence in the European market. We aim to be the alternative to US hyperscalers. There is now huge momentum in this market, and we aim to take this position rather sooner than later.”
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