Spain’s Government Takes Equity in Sherpa.ai to Build a Sovereign AI Platform

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Spain’s government has taken a direct equity stake in a domestic AI company for the first time, joining a $18 million funding round for Sherpa.ai, a Basque firm specializing in privacy-preserving large language models. The investment, closed in early July 2026, signals a strategic push to build sovereign AI infrastructure for European regulated industries.

Sherpa.ai, founded in Erandio (Biscay) by Xabi Uribe-Etxebarria, has been operating for over a decade. The company’s core offering is a platform that allows enterprises and governments to train and deploy large language models without data leaving their own servers — an approach it calls “data sovereignty.” The new round marks its first external funding since an $8.5 million raise in 2021.

The lead investor is Forgepoint Capital, a Silicon Valley firm focused on cybersecurity and AI. Forgepoint had previously invested in two other Basque AI companies, Maisa AI and Multiverse Computing. The Spanish state entered through the Sociedad Española para la Transformación Tecnológica (SETT), the government’s digital transformation vehicle, often called the “digital SEPI.” Other participants include existing investors Mundi Ventures, Ekarpen (the Basque government’s venture capital arm), and Allegra Holdings.

Key facts

Why data sovereignty matters for enterprise AI

Sherpa.ai’s model directly addresses a growing concern among businesses: the risk of proprietary or sensitive data flowing through third-party AI services. Many organizations — especially in healthcare, banking, and public administration — are reluctant to send data to cloud-based LLM providers due to compliance, security, and competitive concerns. Sherpa.ai’s platform claims to solve this by training and running models on-premises or in a private cloud, with the data never leaving the client’s environment.

The company says it has reinforced its scientific activity in parallel. In early July, it published a study on training large language models with private, distributed data across multiple organizations without sharing the raw data. That research is intended to support sectors such as healthcare, where hospital networks could collaborate on model training while keeping patient records confidential.

Government investment as a sovereign tech play

The Spanish state’s participation via SETT is part of a broader allocation of European Union funds aimed at strengthening digital sovereignty. According to El Mundo, the SETT investment is one of the last under this particular tranche of European funds, as the deadline to commit the capital expired on June 30, 2026. In recent weeks, the same public vehicle also invested in Multiverse Computing (over €100 million) and Openchip.

For ReviewArticle’s readership, the trend is relevant beyond Spain. Government-backed AI sovereignty initiatives are emerging in the US, EU, and Asia, often prioritizing domestic control over data and model infrastructure. Sherpa.ai’s approach — combining private investment with state participation — offers a template for how smaller AI firms can scale while serving regulated markets.

What the CEO says

Xabi Uribe-Etxebarria, founder and CEO of Sherpa.ai, stated: “This round allows us to accelerate our vision: develop and commercialize a secure, scalable AI platform that lets companies and governments harness the full potential of AI without giving up control, privacy, and data sovereignty.”

The company plans to use the new capital to accelerate platform development and expand international presence, especially in healthcare, finance, cybersecurity, and government sectors.

Limits and next checks

The funding announcement is based on company statements and media reports from Xataka and El Mundo. Sherpa.ai’s client list includes notable names, but contract details, revenue figures, and independent verification of the platform’s security claims were not available in the source material. The scientific study published in July has not been peer-reviewed or benchmarked against alternative approaches. ReviewArticle readers should monitor Sherpa.ai’s official documentation and any third-party audits for deeper validation of the data sovereignty guarantees.

Source: Xataka IA – “España quiere tener su propia IA ‘soberana’. El primer paso se llama Sherpa.ai, y el Estado ya es accionista” (https://www.xataka.com/empresas-y-economia/espana-quiere-tener-su-propia-ia-soberana-primer-paso-se-llama-sherpa-ai-estado-accionista)