A Swedish startup aiming to construct a hyperscale cloud firm in Europe has raised €50.6 million ($55 million) in Collection 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 growing calls to create a European tech stack, one impartial of U.S. tech companies and the shifting political panorama. Simply this week, a coalition from across Europe’s tech industry referred to as for “radical motion” from lawmakers to scale back the area’s reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure, pushing for homegrown options to apps, AI models, chips and the complete gamut of cloud providers.

Evroc goals to capitalize on this momentum. The three-year-old firm plans to construct knowledge facilities and an array of cloud providers. At its launch in 2023, Evroc outlined plans to determine eight knowledge facilities by 2028. Right this moment, 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 knowledge facilities in Sweden and France, scheduled for completion in 2026 with AI workloads as a main focus.

“They [….] are designed for the power density required for AI, the place racks can eat 20 occasions what a standard server rack can,” Evroc CEO and founder Mattias Åström (pictured above) advised TechCrunch. “Each will probably 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 clients in industries requiring a “excessive want for sovereignty,” together with protection, public sector, well being care and monetary providers. He additionally hinted at extra knowledge facilities coming subsequent yr, although the corporate isn’t prepared to verify specifics.

Digital sovereignty

Europe’s digital sovereignty agenda is nothing new. In reality, most U.S. tech giants are already investing in local infrastructure to make sure compliance with EU knowledge residency laws. AI darling OpenAI also recently unveiled a brand new providing that permits clients to course of and retailer knowledge in Europe.

However with geopolitical tensions on the rise, Åström argues that management over Europe’s infrastructure issues extra than simply server areas.

For instance, Donald Trump final month signed an executive order authorizing financial sanctions in opposition to the Worldwide Prison Court docket (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 firms can serve organizations, with a Guardian report indicating that the ICC depends closely on Microsoft’s Azure cloud for storing knowledge.

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. Extra not too long ago, he claimed that Ukraine’s whole frontline would collapse if he selected to show it off. Though Musk later backtracked, the incident served as one more reminder of the significance of infrastructure independence. And it’s additionally why the EU is forging ahead 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 take into account the cloud to totally leverage AI.

A number of European startups are already constructing cloud infrastructure in Europe, together with France’s FlexAI, Finland’s DataCrunch, and Nebius in the Netherlands — an entity that emerged from the ashes of Yandex final yr.

Nevertheless, whereas many of those gamers deal with AI computing, Evroc goals to construct an intensive, developer-friendly hyperscale cloud that’s extra akin to AWS and its ilk.

The majority of Evroc’s 60-plus staff are centered on software program improvement, unfold throughout Sweden, France, and the U.Okay. Åström famous the London hub wasn’t initially deliberate however grew to become crucial to draw prime expertise from main tech companies.

“I’m truly very enthusiastic about our London workplace — that wasn’t a part of the preliminary plan, however as a way to get extraordinarily sensible folks which might be working for the hyperscalers, it was the proper determination,” Åström stated.

Present me the cash

When Evroc launched out of stealth two years ago with €13 million in funding, Åström advised 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 Collection 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 isn’t any escaping the elephant within the room, although. Constructing 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 quite a lot of knowledge facilities, however we don’t actually have that cloud. This fairness spherical is admittedly serving to us construct the software program stack.”

The corporate plans to lift considerably extra capital later in 2025, following a funding mannequin just like different cloud infrastructure gamers comparable to CoreWeave, which has grown its footprint by borrowing against collateral comparable to Nvidia chips.

“Constructing out knowledge facilities would require quite a lot of extra funding, however the excellent news is that you may finance that with debt,” Åström stated.