Axelera AI secures more than $250 million funding
Axelera AI has attracted over $450 million in equity, grants and venture debt since incorporating in July 2021.
Published on February 24, 2026
Fabrizio del Maffeo, © Axelera AI
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Axelera AI, the European leader in AI acceleration hardware, announced its latest funding round. The company has secured more than $250 million funding. Axelera AI has attracted over $450 million in equity, grants and venture debt since incorporating in July 2021.
Axelera AI is a European AI semiconductor company developing next-generation AI acceleration hardware for edge computing and data center applications. With an edge-first architecture that addresses AI’s critical energy and cooling constraints, Axelera AI has deployed across more than 500 customers including in telecommunications, aerospace, and enterprise sectors.
The round was led by Innovation Industries, with participation from prominent funds and accounts including BlackRock and SiteGround Capital as new investors, as well as existing investors Bitfury, CDP Venture Capital, European Investment Council Fund, Federal Holding and Investment Company of Belgium (SFPIM), Invest-NL, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Verve Investments.
Largest investment ever in EU
The largest investment ever in an EU AI semiconductor company comes as Axelera ships to its 500th global customer across physical AI and edge AI in industries including defense and public safety, industrial manufacturing, retail, agritech, robotics, and security, firmly establishing the company as the global leader in power-efficient AI inference solutions.
Industry must solve for energy consumption
Axelera AI’s success is rooted in a fundamental insight: to deploy AI at scale, the industry must first solve for energy consumption and cooling requirements. The company’s edge-first architectural approach delivers uncompromising AI inference performance that fits within the power and thermal envelopes of real world deployment environments to drive real business value. And by providing high performance at the edge, companies can process data locally, which preserves privacy for their users and supports the increasing demand for sovereign solutions.
“Data centers are hitting power and cooling limits, and as analytics move closer to where data is being created, edge AI solutions must operate within strict energy and bandwidth constraints,” said Fabrizio Del Maffeo, CEO and co-founder of Axelera AI. “We designed our architecture from the ground up to overcome these obstacles. Our edge-first approach isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about making AI."
Homegrown innovation
“As a Dutch investor, we’re proud to support homegrown innovation that's competing on the global stage in AI acceleration,” said Johan Stins from Invest NL. “The Netherlands has always punched above its weight in semiconductor technology, and this team exemplifies that heritage. Their customer traction across Europe and beyond, combined with a solution that addresses both the energy transition challenges we face locally and the global data sovereignty concerns, makes this a strategic investment for our portfolio. The leadership team’s experience scaling deep tech companies gives us confidence they can build a true European champion in AI infrastructure.”