Vertical Compute is transforming AI with its new technology.
Vertical Compute is entering a new stage of development after announcing a total of €57 million in seed funding, aimed at transforming how memory is accessed in artificial intelligence systems. Based in Louvain‑la‑Neuve, the semiconductor startup is working on a technological solution designed to tackle one of the major hidden constraints of modern AI infrastructure: the growing gap between computing power and memory access.
Founded in October 2024 as a spin-off of imec, Vertical Compute focuses on solving what engineers call the “memory wall.” In traditional architectures, processors and memory are physically separated, forcing massive amounts of data to travel back and forth between the two. As AI models grow larger, this constant movement of data increases latency, energy consumption, and operational costs in data centers.
To address this issue, the company has developed a new architecture called Vertical Integrated Memory (VIM™). The concept consists of stacking memory directly above computing units at the nanometer scale. By drastically reducing the distance data must travel—from millimeters or centimeters to nanometers—the technology aims to increase bandwidth while lowering latency and energy consumption. According to the company, the design could significantly improve performance for workloads such as generative AI, large language model inference, and edge-AI applications.
The startup is led by CEO Sylvain Dubois, who brings more than 25 years of experience in computing and memory technologies, including work related to cloud infrastructure at Google. He is joined by CTO Sébastien Couet, a former Program Director for MRAM technologies at imec and the inventor of the VIM™ architecture.
The financing round was completed in two phases. In January 2025, the company raised €20 million led by imec.xpand with participation from investors including Eurazeo and XAnge. On March 3, 2026, an additional €37 million was secured, bringing the total seed funding to €57 million. The round was led by Quantonation with participation from Flanders Future Techfund, Wallonie Entreprendre, Sambrinvest, Noshaq, InvestBW, Drysdale Ventures, and Kima Ventures. Existing investors also reinvested in the round.
Today, Vertical Compute employs around 25 people across Belgium and France, with R&D activities in Leuven as well as research teams in Grenoble and Nice. The company completed its first tape-out—the stage at which a chip design is finalized and sent for fabrication—in March 2025, marking an important milestone in validating the feasibility of its vertical memory architecture.
With its innovative approach and strong backing from European investors, Vertical Compute aims to position itself at the forefront of next-generation semiconductor solutions for artificial intelligence. As AI workloads become increasingly data-intensive, the company’s technology could play a crucial role in improving efficiency, reducing energy consumption, and enabling more scalable AI infrastructures in both cloud and edge environments.