Emergence Capital vs Episode 1

Verda Raises $189M to Expand AI Cloud and Compute Capacity

European AI cloud company Verda, formerly DataCrunch, has raised $189 million (€164.8 million) in Series B funding, propelling it to unicorn status with a valuation over $1 billion. The oversubscribed round was led by Emergence Capital, with participation from MUFG Innovation Partners, Supermicro, Varma, Lifeline Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital, byFounders, Tesi, and angel investors including Ola Tørudbakken and Mark Saroufim. This brings Verda's total funding to over $450 million (€392.3 million). The company plans to scale its full-stack AI cloud, accelerate product development, multiply compute capacity, and expand internationally, including deploying Nvidia's upcoming VR200 NVL72 generation. Verda's renewable-powered data centres in Finland support its operations across Europe, the US, and Asia. The company reported an annualized revenue run rate of $165 million (€143.85 million) in July 2026, serving customers in over 50 countries.

• Verda raised $189 million (€164.8 million) in Series B funding led by Emergence Capital.
• The funding values Verda at over $1 billion, making it Europe's latest unicorn, with total funding exceeding $450 million (€392.3 million).
• Investors include MUFG Innovation Partners, Supermicro, Varma, Lifeline Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital, byFounders, Tesi, and angel investors.

Emergence Capital Publishes New Thought Leadership on AI Workforce and Open-Weight AI

Emergence Capital's thoughts page now features two new articles: 'Building the AI Workforce for Construction Finance' (September 17, 2026) and 'Our Open-Weight Bet on American AI Leadership' (September 16, 2026). The latter discusses the firm's investment in Arcee, an open-weight AI company, and its stance on American AI competitiveness.

AI-Native Services (AINS) as the Next SaaS

Investor Jake Saper and Emergence Capital are promoting the idea of AI-Native Services (AINS): startups that pair human professionals (lawyers, accountants, insurance brokers) with AI-focused engineers to sell the underlying services rather than standalone software. AINS firms aim to boost practitioner productivity with AI and price by outcome (e.g., per completed contract) instead of billable hours. The concept was presented at a small summit held at AI-native law firm Crosby in New York City; Saper shared a private deck outlining a playbook for founders building these businesses.

• Jake Saper (Emergence Capital) is promoting the concept of AI-Native Services (AINS).
• AINS combines human professionals (accounting, insurance, legal) with AI-focused software engineers.
• AINS business models often charge for outcomes/results rather than billable hours.

Veridue Raises €3.4M for AI Energy Infrastructure Dealmaking

London-based Veridue, an AI-native due diligence and M&A platform for renewable energy and data centre projects, has raised $4 million (€3.44 million) in a pre-Seed round. The round was led by Episode 1 Ventures, with participation from HTGF and Pi Labs, alongside angel investors including Cameron Hepburn and Jeremy Palmer. Founded in 2024 by Daniel Csonth and Xander van den Eelaart, Veridue aims to accelerate investment and project financing by automating complex workflows such as deal origination, due diligence, data rooms, Q&A, and investment committee memos. The platform combines AI models with a proprietary agent layer and human expertise to provide institutional-grade analysis, reducing diligence from weeks to hours for investors, IPPs, lenders, and insurers. The funding will support platform rollout amid rising deal activity in renewables and data centre infrastructure.

• Veridue raised $4 million (€3.44 million) in pre-seed funding.
• The round was led by Episode 1 Ventures, with participation from HTGF and Pi Labs.
• Angel investors include Cameron Hepburn and Jeremy Palmer.