Tag : Transactions

  • Clipperton acted as the sole financial advisor to VSORA, a global innovator and Europe’s most advanced provider of ultra-high performance AI inference chips.
  • The investment round was led by Otium Capital and another FRench family office, with a co-investment from Omnes Capital and Adelie Capital, as well as the participation of the European Innovation Council (EIC).
  • The investment round comes as a major milestone for the Company, which is about to release the most powerful energy-efficient, and cost-disruptive AI inference chip as an alternative to current solutions offered by global market leaders.
  • VSORA will start the production of its flagship product Jotunn8 (J8), before the end of 2025, with the continuous support of tier-one industrial partners providing privileged access to cutting-edge semiconductor technologies and production capabilities that meet the highest standards of quality and performace.
  • This transaction is another milestone in Clipperton’s long-standing track record of advising deep-tech innovators, with previous transactions including Galam Robotics Series A announced earlier this year, Exotrail’s $58 million Series B investment, and Flyability’s Series B round in 2023. It also highlights Clipperton’s expertise in the semiconductor space after advising Dentressangle on their investment in Presto Engineering last year.

Our Client

  • Founded in France by a team of seasoned semiconductor entrepreneurs led by Khaled Maalej, VSORA is breaking the next AI frontier by revolutionizing AI processing. The Company’s mission is to democratize AI, generative and agentic AI as well as reasoning models, delivering maximum profitability for customers while minimizing environmental and societal impact.
  • VSORA is solving a major pain point of the industry by allowing AI inference at scale thanks to its ground-breaking chip, engineering for superior performance and efficiency, and designed for key applications such as generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT), autonomous driving, robotics, and edge AI.
  • Already widely recognized by international blue-chip players as one of the most advanced alternatives to current market solutions, VSORA strives to become a European champion of AI infrastructure and aims to spearhead the emergence of a complete and sovereign AI ecosystem across the continent.

Deal Rationale

  • The explosive growth of AI and generative AI applications has triggered an urgent demand for high-performance, cost-effective inference solutions. AI inference – the process of deploying trained AI models to generate real-time insights and predictions – is projected to grow at a16% CAGR from $124 billion in 2025 to $225 billion in 2030.
  • VSORA will use new funding to fuel the industrialization of its flagship product, the J8 chip, while bolstering its R&D teams and preparing for a global market deployment from 2026 onwards.
  • Taking deep roots in fundamental research, J8 shatters the performance barriers of conventional GPUs, delivering concrete performance that surpasses today’s AI chips from leading global industry players. Specifically, J8 delivers more than three times the performance of existing solutions, while consuming less than half the power. This significant leap in efficiency addresses the critical challenges of deployment cost, cost per query, and energy consumption in large-scale AI deployment.
  • Commenting on the transaction, Khaled Maalej – founder & CEO of VSORA – said: “This funding marks a pivotal moment for VSORA as we accelerate our mission to revolutionize AI chips and ensure Europe’s technological sovereignty in AI computing. It will drive the finalization of our technology and the launch of our production, enabling VSORA to play a crucial role as the sole alternative to non-European chip designers.”

Semiconductor & deep tech transactions managed by Clipperton:

Deal Team Clipperton

About Clipperton

Clipperton is a leading pan-European investment bank dedicated to technology and growth companies, with offices in Paris, Berlin, Munich, London, and Amsterdam, as well as partnerships in the USA, China, Italy, and Spain. We provide strategic and financial advisory to entrepreneurs, corporates, and top-tier investors in Europe who are looking to execute strategic M&A, private equity, private placements, and debt financing transactions. Founded in 2003, we have completed over 500 deals with fast-growing technology companies, blue-chip corporates, and renowned financial investors.