Dmitry Panenkov (emma): Powering businesses with smarter infrastructure and sovereign clouds
Dmitry Panenkov, founder and CEO of emma, shares how his Luxembourg-based cloud management platform is tackling data sovereignty, AI compute shortages and overcoming startup growth pains in Europe’s changing tech ecosystem.
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How is emma evolving in response to today’s AI and data sovereignty challenges?
Over the past year, the acceleration of both geopolitical shifts and AI demand has forced us to evolve quickly. The sovereignty topic has become a major priority for our European clients. Companies want control over where their data sits, how it’s stored and how it moves—especially with sensitive information. emma now enables clients to securely anchor sensitive data on European cloud infrastructure, while still leveraging the scale and innovation of major US providers. That flexibility is essential, particularly in sectors where sovereignty isn’t just a preference—it’s a legal requirement. At the same time, AI is exploding. The global GPU shortage has made it clear that raw hardware access is not enough. Even with capital, it’s increasingly difficult to find and deploy the latest GPU machines like the Nvidia B300 systems. That’s why we’ve expanded our cloud offering with AI-optimized infrastructure. Users can now tap into GPU capacity from multiple providers — Amazon, Azure, Gcore — build logical GPU clusters, and run inference workloads across this unified, multi-cloud setup. This fully aligns with our vision of the future of cloud: seamless multi-cloud operations, powered by fast deployment, intelligent orchestration, and continuous optimization across increasingly complex environments.
What happened with your banking issues in Luxembourg, and what lessons does it offer?
Thankfully, the issue has been resolved. After a long struggle, we opened accounts with a major French banking group. The Luxembourg branch of the same group is now reviewing our case, and we expect the local accounts to reopen soon. The crux isn’t political or personal—it’s structural. Most banks in Luxembourg aren’t used to operational accounts. They focus on investment and savings, not on startups managing payroll, vendor payments or incoming transactions. In France, by contrast, these banks already serve operational companies. They have the staff, the compliance processes and the mindset. Once KYC was completed in France, it smoothed the way for Luxembourg to follow. The situation exposed a gap in local banking services. For a country promoting itself as a startup hub, this needs to be addressed. Luxembourg can’t afford to lose momentum because operational accounts take months. Startups like ours need flexibility, not friction. I believe the Ministry of Finance could use this case as a real-world scenario to improve financial access for high-growth ventures operating inside regulated environments.
"It’s never just about the infrastructure, you need the full capability stack to turn raw compute into real business value.”
What will it take for emma to reach 150 million in ARR within three years?
Talent is the fuel. We now attract strong candidates globally, especially since we’ve built a core of top professionals internally. Talents follow talents, and that ecosystem has begun to flourish in our Luxembourg office. The environment is vibrant. People visit from abroad and decide to relocate. We’ve grown from four to thirty people here, mostly through international hires. Our R&D centre in Luxembourg is expanding, and it’s critical to keep this momentum. That said, stock option legislation remains an issue. Without proper schemes, retaining senior talent becomes harder—especially when US firms offer sky-high packages. We’ve created internal agreements to grant equity creatively, but formal frameworks would boost our competitiveness. Strategic partnerships are also key to growth. Our strategic alliance with PwC Luxembourg added credibility and opened doors to major clients. That’s what Luxembourg needs more of—large enterprises supporting startups through real contracts, not just pilot projects. Building an ecosystem where champions support challengers will help scale companies like ours faster and smarter.