Startup to raise €3bn for European green datacentres

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A European startup is looking to raise €3bn to set up a cloud of environmentally friendly datacentres in the region.

www.eenewseurope.com/, Jun. 06, 2023 – 

Evroc says it wants to build the first secure, sovereign, and sustainable European datacentre cloud, putting an end to the foreign dominance of the local cloud market.

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The startup is initially backed by global technology investor EQT Ventures and impact investor Norrsken VC, closing a €13m seed round to build its launch team. The company now plans to raise €3bn over the next couple of years to develop and operate two hyperscale data centres – one in Northern Europe and one in Southern Europe.

"Status quo is not an option for Europe. We want to build a better cloud that is secure, sustainable, and sovereign, and with that, power Europe's digital economy," says Mattias Astrom, founder and CEO of evroc.

There are already several European data centres with renewable power, and the EU has a major project, Gaia-X, to develop a sovereign federated hyperscaler cloud.

By 2028, evroc plans to have eight hyperscale data centres and three software development hubs across the continent, employing over 3,000 people in total. This will use a proprietary eco load balancer system that will enable data to flow seamlessly and securely between evroc's data centre based on where renewable energy is most readily available and affordable.

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"The lack of home-grown hyperscale cloud providers poses a serious challenge for Europe. Not only because our citizens' data is placed under foreign ownership by companies operating under laws that conflict with European privacy legislation. It is also a real threat to our long-term competitiveness in a digital world where others are advancing much faster. Europe's digital economy must be built on a European foundation," says Astrom, a Swedish serial entrepreneur who has founded five telecoms businesses with energy efficiency at the core, including envelope tracking, He has experience of startups acquired by Apple, Nokia, Murata and Schneider Electric.

He points to the fact that between 2017 and 2022, the European cloud market grew five-fold. During the same time, the market share of European cloud players fell from 27% to 13%.

"evroc has spotted an exciting opportunity to make Europe a leader in cloud technologies by bringing together the continent's brightest minds, ambitious thinkers, and experienced entrepreneurs. We believe the next generation of European tech companies will be built on evroc's cloud services," says Ted Persson, Partner at EQT Ventures.

"The data centre industry is on par with the airline industry in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Data processing will continue to grow substantially over the coming decades, causing significant emissions and damage to our climate, unless we change direction. evroc's holistic strategy for clean energy usage, combined with the implementation of state-of-the-art energy efficiency technology, could set the standard for the entire industry," says Tove Larsson, Partner at Norrsken VC.

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