Vates has raised €30 million, approximately $33.6 million, in funding led by IRIS’s Growth fund and Bpifrance through its Large Venture fund, giving the open-source virtualization company new capital to accelerate technology development, expand its enterprise go-to-market organization and scale internationally.
The financing marks Vates’ first major outside funding after nearly a decade of self-funded growth.
Vates develops XCP-ng, an open-source virtualization platform, and the Vates Virtualization Management Stack, or Vates VMS. The company now serves more than 1,000 customers across approximately 100 countries.
North America already accounts for close to 50% of Vates’ business, with customers including Harman, AMD and North Carolina State University.
About 90% of the company’s revenue is generated outside France.
Vates grew more than 65% in 2025 and was recently included for the first time in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Server Virtualization Platforms.
The company said the new financing is therefore intended to accelerate an established North American business rather than fund an initial entry into the market.
Vates plans to invest significantly in the next generation of its virtualization platform, particularly across performance, storage, security, automation and management of large-scale virtualization environments.
Those investments will also address changing infrastructure requirements associated with artificial intelligence and other emerging workloads.
The company will also expand its enterprise sales, marketing and customer-facing resources, with North America representing a major focus.
Vates intends to increase its presence among large enterprises, public-sector organizations and service providers while investing further in channel partnerships and technology alliances.
Another portion of the funding will be directed toward expanding Vates’ global partner ecosystem, including distributors, systems integrators, service providers and technology partners.
The company sees those relationships as increasingly important as customers undertake larger infrastructure transformation and migration programs.
The investment comes during a period of significant change in the virtualization market.
Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has prompted many organizations to reconsider their virtualization strategies as they evaluate licensing structures, vendor concentration, infrastructure complexity and long-term platform flexibility.
Vates is positioning its open-source architecture as an alternative for enterprises seeking greater control over their virtualization environments.
Its platform combines open-source technology with enterprise support, professional services and operational capabilities intended for business-critical workloads.
The company emphasizes interoperability, portability and transparency as ways for customers to reduce dependence on a single infrastructure vendor while retaining flexibility as their technology strategies change.
Vates said open source will remain central to its operating model following the new investment.
The company’s co-founders will remain majority shareholders after the transaction, preserving their control of the business.
IRIS and Bpifrance are joining as investors to provide additional capital and experience as Vates expands its organization and international operations.
The company plans to continue scaling globally while increasing its investment in North America, where it already generates a substantial portion of its business.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are not raising funds to change our strategy, but to accelerate the one we have pursued from the beginning. Today, we have the technology, the teams, an international presence and recognition. North America is already our largest market, and this funding gives us the resources to build on that traction and operate at an entirely different scale”
Olivier Lambert, CEO and Co-Founder of Vates
“Vates demonstrates that open source can meet the highest requirements of the market. Its virtualization platform is now adopted by organizations of all sizes around the world, including large enterprises operating critical environments where security requirements are particularly demanding. We are proud to support Olivier and his team in this new stage of their development and to actively contribute to making Vates a global reference in virtualization,”
Nicolas Herschtel, Partner at IRIS
“The virtualization market is undergoing a profound transformation, and organizations are looking for trusted alternatives that offer greater flexibility, transparency and control. Vates has built a compelling enterprise-grade open-source platform that responds directly to these evolving customer needs. Its strong technology, premium level of support to customers and growing international footprint, particularly in North America, position the company to capture a significant opportunity in the global infrastructure software market. We are proud to support Vates in its ambition to become a world-class technology leader.”
Cindy Ung, Investment Director, Large Venture at Bpifrance
