If you’re a French entrepreneur, there’s a new venture capital firm in town.Ovni Capital has announced its first closing of €50 million ($54 million at today’s exchange rate) as an early stage fund.
The company’s two general partners, Arnaud Laurent and Augustin Sayer, have already invested in several companies in their previous jobs. Laurent worked with Didier Soucheyre to found XLR Capital, where he invests in start-ups such as MWM and He Onoff. He also invests in early stage startups through his startup accelerator, his WeSprint.
Thayer grew up in the United States and started his career there. Most recently, as a partner at Newfund Capital, he invested in 22 startups, including FairMoney and She Umiami.
When it comes to the company’s investment themes, Omni Capital wants to support new startups with strong international ambitions from day one. According to the Ovni team, many French entrepreneurs think too late about global expansion. That’s why Berlin and Stockholm have more unicorns per capita than France.
“Statistically, we also know that French startups are three times more likely to raise a Series B if they adopt this international approach from the start,” Augustin Sayer said in a statement. increase.
In addition to focusing on startups with foreign employees and internal communication in English, Ovni Capital prioritizes deep tech startups over platform plays, marketplaces and vertical software-as-a-service products. To do. The VC will also invite experts to its board of directors to support entrepreneurs.
Ovni Capital tried to raise as much money as possible from successful entrepreneurs. Overall, the company was able to convince her 50 French tech entrepreneurs to back the fund. If some of them want to be involved in operations, he can represent Ovni Capital on the boards of portfolio companies.
The company plans to invest between €250,000 and €2 million in 30 different startups. In some cases, Ovni Capital can invest up to €4 million in upcoming rounds. The first portfolio company is his Axeptio, a user consent management startup that recently raised €3.5M from Isai, Evolem and Ovni Capital.
