$550M to Invest in Startups Impacting the World
May 15, 2020
Global
Today, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve reached a significant milestone in raising €500M ($550M), over our original target, for our second venture capital Fund to invest in visionary entrepreneurs impacting the world through technology. Through Fund II, one of three new funds recently recognized by the French Ministry of Economy and Finance for our commitment to technology companies, we’ll continue backing emerging companies at the center of digital revolution. Building on the success of our previous Fund, we’ll continue backing emerging companies at the center of digital revolution, those using artificial intelligence as well as startups pushing forward innovation in sectors such as retail, fintech, healthcare, mobility and energy.
We take a global approach to venture capital, which means that we are local everywhere. With offices across San Francisco, New York, Paris, Munich, Shanghai, Beijing and now Singapore — we ideally invest in startups at the inflection point of growth. These are companies that are really starting to pick up speed, when sales acceleration demonstrates that escape velocity can be reached soon. At this stage, startups still require dedicated and passionate guidance to refine the structure of the company to maximize performance and create long lasting value.
Our main focus is to fund anywhere from $5M to $40M for our initial investment, leading financing rounds of companies with revenues between $5M to $20M. We then re-up in future financings, to further support the growth of the company. We believe our strategy, and support from our worldwide ecosystem, enables us to offer entrepreneurs a uniquely differentiated advantage and is of great usefulness to accelerate innovative startups even further and stronger onto the global stage.
From our unique vantage point, we are seeing economies across the globe beginning to reopen from the coronavirus lockdowns and that the new world that is emerging will look and operate very differently. We are convinced that true recovery will only take place if job growth and economic prosperity has a positive impact on society and benefits all.
In what is sure to be a post-crisis acceleration of the digitalization of the economy, we’ll see an even greater societal need for innovative startups to revolutionize antiquated industries and create a new standard for businesses everywhere — grounded in promoting sustainability and the wellbeing of people and society. They’ll need the backing of investors who believe in their vision and have the capital to grow as well as a firm that goes beyond the traditional VC playbook.