There’s more than just AI startups securing impressive funding rounds.
The Grenoble-based open-source virtualization solutions provider Vates convinced IRIS Growth and Bpifrance (via its Large Venture fund) to secure a €30 million Series A.
Timing matters. According to Vates, Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has accelerated an already under way transformation of the market. The evolution of licensing models, rising infrastructure costs, and the increasing complexity of architectures are pushing companies to reexamine their technology choices. They are now seeking platforms that combine performance, cost control, interoperability, sovereignty, and reversibility.
It is in this landscape that the company positions itself, with an open-source platform designed to give organizations control over their infrastructures and reduce their dependence on a single vendor. Its flagship products are XCP-ng and Xen Orchestra.
The VMware Context
“We sell support and services around software that remains the same with or without a subscription. This model has kept us profitable for ten years, and it’s the model IRIS and Bpifrance chose to fund,” explains Marc-André Pezin, the company’s marketing director.
Vates claims growth of over 65% in 2025, even before the arrival of the new investors, and more than 1,000 customers spread across around 100 countries.
The company generates 90% of its revenue from exports, where North America accounts for almost half of its activity. A portion of the raised funds will also be dedicated to strengthening its presence there as well as in the major European markets.
The stated priority is to develop the next generation of its platform with a focus on performance, storage, security, automation, and the management of large-scale infrastructures. Vates explicitly cites evolving workloads and the new needs tied to AI. A source of pride for the company: for the first time this year it appears in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for virtualization.
On the commercial side, the emphasis is on strengthening the partner ecosystem (distributors, integrators, MSPs) to support larger migration and transformation projects at an international scale.
