European modular data center company Cyanis AI has raised €250,000 ($285,000) in pre-seed financing.
Cyanis, which offers modular data centers ranging from a 500W household unit to a “MW+” energy site unit, said that the money would go towards the development of its orchestration platform and an initial deployment of 10MW. A timeline was not provided.
Funding was supported by Christian Wichmann, the managing director of hydraulics company BESI Marine Systems and pump manufacturer Heinrich Behren Pumpenfabrik.
Modular data center companies argue that they can get compute up and running faster than traditional operators by using distributed energy sources as well as large-scale energy sites.
Cyanis says that it is an asset-light platform, with hardware financed separately at the project level.
“Equity finances our asset-light software and orchestration platform, where our core margins are generated, while compute infrastructure is financed separately through asset-backed project structures suited to long-term infrastructure returns,” says CFO Tim Kuhnert.
The controversial practice of establishing legal entities separate from the parent company in order to fund data center buildout is also common amongst major hyperscalers, who make use of special purpose vehicles to keep data centers off their balance sheets.
Cyanis says that its orchestration platform is also designed for third-party data center developers.
Hamburg-based Cyanis AI was founded by Alexander Owolabi in May 2026. Owolabi was previously employed at geothermal company Eavor, raw materials company Neptune Energy, and French utility Engie.
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