French Startup PoliCloud Secures €7.5 million In Seed Round

The company will use the funds to build its operating team and expand globally, with a focus on serving public sector clients across Europe.

The funding round was led by Global Ventures, a top venture capital firm from the MENA region. Other participants include MI8 Limited (a Hong Kong-based multi-family office), OneRagtime (a Paris-based VC firm), Inria (France’s national digital science research institute), and several private investors.

David Gurlé, Founder of PoliCloud, said: “PoliCloud is meeting a critical market demand for sovereign cloud infrastructure that is not only secure and abundant but also eco-responsible. Our unique edge computing capabilities deliver significant benefits to both public and private sector users.

“The time is right for a new European solution that reduces reliance on US cloud providers and offers affordable, scalable computing power, especially as AI adoption accelerates. We are grateful to Global Ventures and all our investors for their support as we enter this exciting phase of expansion.”

The solution is promoted as eco-friendly, cost-effective, scalable, and secure. It decentralises computing through a partnership with Hivenet, a leader in distributed cloud technology with the largest contributor community in the market.

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With AI driving increased demand for scalable and affordable compute power, PoliCloud sees an opportunity for a Europe-led alternative to reduce reliance on U.S.-based cloud providers—who currently dominate the €682 billion market, according to the company.

Simon Sharp, Senior Partner of Global Ventures, commented: “Global Ventures is delighted to lead PoliCloud’s Seed fund raise and work again with David and his talented management team, following their track record of successful delivery in Hivenet. We seek visionary entrepreneurs whose products have clear market demand and global potential – all of which apply to PoliCloud.

“Their distributed data centres have multiple competitive advantages: delivering next-gen, sovereign computing resources where they are needed; with more resilience; faster performance; greater security; while being cheaper to build and maintain. The exponential growth in AI demand and the need for reliable, scalable computing power means the Company’s future is a very bright one.”

Stephanie Hospital, Founder & CEO of OneRagtime, said: “As an early investor and believer in David and Hivenet; and being very aware of how cloud technology has opened up horizons of innovation, but also comes with challenges of costs, security and environmental impact, OneRagtime is excited to invest in PoliCloud. The company is uniquely positioned to provide decentralised, unlimited computing power – affordably, securely and in an eco-responsible way – for which substantial demand exists.”

PoliCloud combines its custom-built hardware with Hivenet’s distributed storage and computing software to offer a unique cloud infrastructure solution. The company designs, builds, and operates its own high-performance micro-data centres using proprietary, optimised technology to deliver cost-effective, reliable compute and storage.

In practice, cities like Cannes in France purchase and host PoliCloud units, providing power and internet connectivity. These units then support local startup ecosystems by offering scalable cloud capacity. Similarly, companies like Data Factory in the U.S. use PoliCloud’s infrastructure to deliver HPC services to their clients.

In just three months, PoliCloud has sold four units and is already cash flow positive, with projected revenue exceeding €6 million by the end of 2025.

Bruno Sportisse, CEO of Inria, added: “Inria Participations is delighted to become an investor in Policloud, as it is a logical extension of Inria’s existing strategic partnership with Hivenet. Inria and PoliCloud share the same philosophy of a decentralised path to the cloud, for secure, distributed computing, but where resources can also be shared according to need. Achieving this goal is of strategic importance for France and its digital sovereignty.”

The cloud computing market, currently valued at €682 billion, is expected to grow to €1.7 trillion by 2030, according to Goldman Sachs Research. As profitability pressures rise, the industry is moving towards more cost-efficient solutions—driving demand for affordable, GPU-powered computing like high-performance computing (HPC) for fast graphic rendering.

Guillaume Dhamelincourt, Managing Director of Mi8, said: “The opportunity to invest in PoliCloud was compelling for Mi8, as the world embraces AI and rapidly adjusts its demand for computing power. The multiple use cases for PoliClouds, such as SMEs – but also public enterprises who want to stay mindful of their IT strategy’s impact- is an attractive market environment and we look forward to PoliCloud’s future growth with great confidence.”

About PoliCloud

Founded in 2025, PoliCloud is a decentralised cloud platform designed for cities, enterprises, and public institutions that want to keep control of their data instead of relying on major hyperscalers. Each PoliCloud unit is delivered as a container-sized module that handles local compute and storage needs while staying connected to a larger network.