Wodan AI is a European technology company focused on one of the hardest problems in artificial intelligence today: how to use AI on sensitive data without exposing it. Headquartered in Temse, Belgium, and expanding its operations into Spain, the company builds AI systems that work directly on encrypted data.
Founded in 2024, Wodan AI is part of a growing movement around sovereign and privacy first AI in Europe. Its platform allows machine learning, computer vision, and large language models to process data without ever seeing it in plain text.
What Is Wodan AI?
Wodan AI develops a security focused AI platform built on fully homomorphic encryption, often referred to as FHE. This technology makes it possible to perform calculations on encrypted data while keeping the data encrypted throughout the entire process.
In simple terms, the company allows organisations to run artificial intelligence on their most sensitive information without handing that information over to AI providers, cloud platforms, or third parties.
This approach is especially relevant in Europe, where strict regulations and growing concerns around data sovereignty have made traditional AI deployments harder to justify.
Who Founded Wodan AI?
Wodan AI was founded in 2024 by Bob Dubois and Manuel Pérez Yllán.
Bob Dubois serves as Chief Executive Officer and focuses on strategy, partnerships, and commercial growth. Manuel Pérez Yllán is the Chief Technology Officer and leads the company’s work in cryptography, machine learning, and privacy preserving systems.
The founding team brings together experience in secure systems, advanced encryption, and applied artificial intelligence, which forms the technical backbone of the company.
How Wodan AI’s Technology Works
At the core of Wodan AI’s platform is fully homomorphic encryption. Unlike traditional encryption methods, which protect data only when it is stored or transmitted, FHE keeps data encrypted while it is being processed.
Encrypted in Use Data
Most AI systems require data to be decrypted before analysis. This creates a security gap where sensitive information is briefly exposed. Wodan AI removes this gap by ensuring data stays encrypted at all times.
Only the end user, not the AI provider, can decrypt the final result. This means personal, classified, or proprietary data never appears in a readable form during computation.
Fully Homomorphic Encryption
Fully homomorphic encryption allows mathematical operations to be performed directly on encrypted data. The output, once decrypted, matches the result of performing the same operation on the original data.
Recent advances in cryptography have made FHE practical for real world AI workloads. Wodan AI builds on these advances to support modern machine learning models, including large language models and computer vision systems.
The Dropnir Gateway
Wodan’s platform includes a component known as the Dropnir Gateway. This is a containerised API layer that runs on premises within a customer’s infrastructure.
The gateway encrypts data locally before it is sent to AI models for processing. Because of this design, organisations can integrate Wodan without major changes to their existing systems.
Zero Trust Architecture
Wodan follows a zero trust security model. Every AI inference is verified using cryptographic attestation. This provides proof that only authorised code interacted with the encrypted data.
For regulated industries, this level of assurance is often a requirement rather than a nice to have.
Industries Wodan AI Serves
Wodan AI focuses on sectors where data privacy, regulatory compliance, and national security are critical.
Finance
Banks and financial institutions can use Wodan AI for fraud detection, credit scoring, and risk analysis without exposing personally identifiable information. This helps reduce compliance risk while still benefiting from advanced analytics.
Healthcare
Healthcare providers can analyse patient records, medical images, and genomic data while maintaining strict patient confidentiality. This is particularly important under European data protection rules.
Defence and Government
Public sector organisations and defence agencies can process classified or sensitive data securely. Wodan AI supports sovereign data strategies where information must remain under national control.
Manufacturing and Industry
Manufacturers can apply predictive maintenance and quality control models to encrypted telemetry and design data, protecting intellectual property and trade secrets.
Wodan AI Funding and Recent Investment
Wodan AI funding reflects growing investor interest in secure and privacy preserving artificial intelligence.
On December 17, 2025, the company announced it had closed a €2 million pre seed funding round. The round was led by JME Ventures, Swanlaab, and Adara Ventures, with participation from Belgium based ScaleFund.
The investment supports Wodan AI’s ambition to become a key player in Europe’s sovereign AI ecosystem.
How Wodan AI Will Use the Funding
The new capital will be used to expand the company’s research and development team, particularly in areas such as advanced cryptography, machine learning, and privacy engineering.
Wodan AI is also accelerating its technical roadmap to support more advanced encrypted computer vision and large language model workloads at scale.
In addition, part of the funding will be used to strengthen commercial operations and pursue contracts with European organisations in regulated and strategic sectors.
Move to Spain and European Strategy
As part of its growth plans, Wodan AI intends to relocate its global headquarters to Madrid. Spain will become a central hub for the company’s research and development efforts.
The company is already running pilot projects with a Spanish financial institution, which it views as early validation of encrypted AI in critical sector use cases.
By building its team and infrastructure within the European Union, Wodan AI aligns closely with EU goals around digital autonomy and data sovereignty.
Why Wodan AI Matters for Sovereign AI in Europe
Europe’s approach to artificial intelligence places strong emphasis on privacy, security, and regulation. This creates challenges for organisations that want to use AI while complying with laws such as GDPR, DORA, and sector specific rules.
Wodan AI addresses this tension by making it possible to apply powerful AI models without giving up control of sensitive data.
For many organisations, this could unlock AI adoption in areas that were previously considered too risky.
Also Read: Ankar AI: £15m Series A Funding, Platform, Founders and Growth
Competitive Landscape
The field of privacy preserving AI includes techniques such as secure enclaves, differential privacy, and federated learning. Fully homomorphic encryption is among the most secure approaches, though also one of the most technically demanding.
Wodan AI differentiates itself by focusing on practical deployment, enterprise integration, and regulated industry requirements rather than purely academic research.
What Comes Next for Wodan AI?
Over the next year, Wodan AI plans to grow its team, deepen its cryptographic capabilities, and expand pilot projects into long term commercial deployments.
As concerns about data sovereignty and AI security continue to rise, demand for encrypted AI platforms is likely to increase across Europe and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Wodan AI do?
Wodan AI builds an AI platform that allows machine learning and large language models to run directly on encrypted data using fully homomorphic encryption.
Where is Wodan AI based?
Wodan AI is headquartered in Temse, Belgium, and is expanding its operations and R and D presence in Madrid, Spain.
Who are the founders of Wodan AI?
Wodan AI was founded by Bob Dubois, the CEO, and Manuel Pérez Yllán, the CTO.
How much funding has Wodan AI raised?
As of December 2025, Wodan AI has raised €2 million in a pre seed funding round.
Which industries use Wodan AI?
Wodan AI focuses on finance, healthcare, defence and government, and manufacturing sectors where data privacy and security are essential.
The Bottom Line
Wodan AI is building the infrastructure needed to run artificial intelligence without sacrificing data privacy. With fully homomorphic encryption at its core and strong backing from European investors, the company is well positioned to support the next generation of secure and sovereign AI systems.
As regulation tightens and trust becomes a central issue in AI adoption, Wodan AI’s approach could become a foundational layer for sensitive AI workloads across Europe.