Investment firm SWI has invested in a European cloud provider.

SWI Stoneweg Icona Group this week announced it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Polarise, a European Nvidia Cloud Preferred Partner.

Terms of the deal were not shared in the announcement, but in the company’s recent Euronext prospectus, the company would initially invest €10 million ($11.7m) for a 30 percent stake, €10m in a 50 percent stake in a subsidiary operating entity of the platform, and up to €100m ($117.7m) in additional investment over a further five years. The deal values Polarise at €500m ($588.7m).

Based in Germany, Polarise offers bare metal, private cloud, and GPU services. The company recently launched an AI Factory in Germany in partnership with Deutsche Telekom and Nvidia in Munich, following its first AI factory in Oslo, Norway. Another is in development around Frankfurt.

SWI said the transaction brings GPU- and AI-as-a-Service capabilities onto the AiOnX platform and supports SWI Group's “focus on building scalable, income-generating digital infrastructure across Europe."

The deal will see Polarise leverage AiOnX's 2.3GW existing Europe-wide platform to rapidly expand compute deployment across the continent and gain market presence in other European countries. SWI said it will also commit a further €1 billion ($1.17bn) towards AI factory pipeline expansion.

Max-Hervé George, Founder and CEO of SWI Group comments: "We are extremely excited about partnering up with such an esteemed player in the GPU- and AI-as-a-Service business, allowing us to extend our existing investment in data centers to encompass the critical operating elements pertaining to GPU compute and client interface. Our ambition targets the creation of the foremost digital infrastructure developer and operator in Europe. We cannot imagine a better way to do it than with the extraordinary team at Polarise."

Amsterdam Euronext-listed SWI is an alternative investment conglomerate. Formed from the merger of Stoneweg and Icona Capital last year, the company has some €11 billion in assets under management.

Michel Boutouil, founder and CEO of Polarise, further states: "The partnership with SWI Group will allow us to significantly accelerate our mission and reach new frontiers within a much shorter period of time – precious time that Europe needs to recoup in the global AI race. Having such a solid funding commitment from a partner that precisely understands our ambitions, along with a vast existing power supply across strategic European locations, is a great basis for the further development of much-needed digital infrastructure in Europe."

SWI’s Stoneweg unit last year announced it was launching its own data center fund and platform, taking a stake in AiOnX.

AiOnX is developing a data center park in Cambridge, UK, and near Dublin in Ireland. The company also lists projects in Milan, Italy; Varde, Denmark; and Madrid, Spain.

Polarise has previously secured financing from Macquarie.

SWI looks to US data centers

SWI has also signed an agreement to acquire a “significant stake” in an unnamed US data center company.

This week saw SWI say it had entered into a binding agreement to acquire additional interests in digital infrastructure and technology-enabled businesses for an aggregate purchase price of $330m.

A related deal saw SWI Digital exercise its option to acquire the entire share capital of a private holding company that holds interests in the same digital infrastructure and technology-enabled businesses for an aggregate purchase price of $170m.

The two transactions will see SWI hold approximately 38.3 percent of the total shareholding in the unnamed company.

Further details haven’t been shared, but the company’s recently published prospectus says it has acquired the entirety of a holding company incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre, which holds interests in digital infrastructure and technology-enabled businesses.