Startup fundraising, in France like elsewhere in Europe, was down dramatically in 2023 compared to the previous two years — but one area that held up relatively well was early-stage funding.
While overall investments in startups dropped last year by 40% to under $10bn, rounds at pre-seed, seed and Series A only saw an 11% decline, reaching $4.7bn compared to $5.3bn in 2022, according to Dealroom data.
These numbers are partly driven by some big AI rounds like Poolside’s $126m seed fundraise and Mistral’s first €105m round — but even discounting them, early-stage funding last year was higher than in 2021 ($4bn), and more than doubled from 2020, when it stood at $2.2bn.
Using data from Dealroom alongside investor deal count figures reported to Sifted by the firms themselves, Sifted has tracked down the investors that did the most pre-seed and seed deals in France in the past 12 months, both new and follow-on. Accelerators were not included.
Kima Ventures
Pre-seed and seed deals: 89, all new (Kima never follows on).
HQ: Paris
Fund focus: Kima was founded to invest the fortune of French billionaire Xavier Niel, and describes itself as a business angel rather than a VC fund. It backs up to 100 startups a year with €150k tickets in all sectors.
Notable deals:
- Mistral, which builds foundational AI models and recently became one of Europe’s best-valued AI startups;
- Bioptimus, founded by top execs from French unicorn Owkin, which develops AI models for biotech;
- AdaptiveML, which helps businesses build custom-made Gen AI models.
Super Capital
Pre-seed and seed deals: 43 (35 new, 8 follow-on)
HQ: Paris
Fund focus: Super Capital is an early-stage fund that invests across all industries and business models. Its last fund was €7m and has been fully deployed; the firm is now raising its next vehicle, with a €5m target.
Notable deals:
- Welii, a SaaS company designed to improve the efficiency of businesses’ purchasing teams;
- Klark, which builds GenAI tools for customer service teams;
- Aria, a fintech that provides invoicing technologies for enterprises.
Bpifrance Digital Venture
Pre-seed and seed deals: 43 (10 new, 33 follow-on)
HQ: Maisons-Alfort
Fund focus: Public bank Bpifrance invests across many different strategies; its digital venture team focuses on startups at seed to Series B stages. It is currently deploying a €370m generalist fund, which covers sectors ranging from cybersecurity to fintech through healthcare and education.
Notable deals:
- Exotrail, which provides tools to manage the movements of small satellites in space;
- Poolside, an AI company building Gen AI models that can write software code;
- C12, which develops quantum processors based on ‘spin qubits’.
Better Angle
Pre-seed and seed deals: 39 (35 new, 4 follow-on)
HQ: Courbevoie
Fund focus: Founded by entrepreneurs-turned-business-angels Baptiste Hamel and Nicolas Douay, Better Angle is an early-stage VC firm that invests in all sectors, mainly in Europe but also internationally. Its last fund was €7.3m, which it closed in 2024.
Notable deals:
- FlexAI, which develops software that lets AI engineers build their application on a range of different chips;
- Spore.bio, a biotech company building devices to detect bacteria in everyday products;
- Ensol, a solar energy startup that specialises in photovoltaic equipment.
IRDI Capital Investissement
Pre-seed and seed deals: 28 (11 new, 17 follow-on)
HQ: Toulouse
Fund focus: Based in the southwest of France, Irdi backs regional startups and SMBs via several funds that focus on different stages of development. It is currently deploying a €50m pre-seed and seed fund targeting industrial companies in health, chemistry and energy, as well as a €35m seed and Series A fund, which is sector-agnostic. Both funds launched at the start of 2023.
Notable deals:
- Materrup, which produces low-carbon cement for the construction industry;
- Infinite Orbits, which builds nanosatellites that can carry out in-orbit services such as refuelling and repairs;
- Womed, a femtech company that makes intrauterine devices to treat conditions like endometriosis and uterine bleeding.
Newfund
Pre-seed and seed deals: 25 (9 new, 16 follow-on)
HQ: Paris and Palo Alto
Fund focus: Newfund invests in seed and Series A rounds in Europe and the USA, across a range of verticals including health, energy and infrastructure, and AI. The firm last closed a €128m fund in 2018.
Notable deals:
- Ramify, a wealth management and investment platform;
- Umiami, a foodtech that makes plant-based alternatives to meat products;
- Touch Sensity, which develops a technology that can detect flaws in materials.
Motier Ventures
Pre-seed and seed deals: 24 new, plus 15 follow-on at both seed and Series A stages (the firm does not use pre-seed, seed and Series A classification for rounds).
HQ: Paris
Fund focus: Motier is the family office managing the investments of retail giant Galeries Lafayette Group. It invests at early-stage with a focus on software companies in six sectors: commerce, fintech, creative technologies, gaming and consumer, infrastructure and tooling, and future of work. It also targets AI and blockchain companies across these sectors.
Notable deals:
- H, an AI company building foundational models that raised a hefty $220m seed round last May;
- Dust, a Gen AI startup that offers a platform that enables businesses to build multiple customised assistants for different tasks;
- Twin, which is building AI-powered automation tools to take on repetitive tasks in enterprises.
Evolem
Pre-seed and seed deals: 21 (10 new, 11 follow-on)
HQ: Lyon
Fund focus: Evolem is the family office of Bruno Rousset, who founded insurance company April. It invests in different assets, including property, startups and SMBs. The venture team typically backs businesses at pre-seed to Series A stages, and is sector-agnostic.
Notable deals:
- Kotzilla, a SaaS company that provides tools for developers building mobile apps;
- Kor.care, which offers health checkups for customers’ employees;
- Jimini, an AI copilot for legal professionals.
Elaia
Pre-seed and seed deals: 19 (11 new, 8 follow-on)
HQ: Paris
Fund focus: Elaia backs companies from pre-seed to Series B, with a focus on B2B startups in digital, deeptech and biotech. The firm recently closed €60m of a targeted €120m seed fund targeting academic spinoffs and startups born from research.
Notable deals:
- Alice & Bob, a quantum computing company developing processors that are based on ‘cat qubits’;
- Aqemia, which is using AI to accelerate the drug discovery process;
- Vibe.co, which helps SMBs advertise their products and services on streaming services and connected TVs.
Blast Club
Pre-seed and seed deals: 17 (15 new, 2 follow-on)
HQ: Paris
Fund focus: Blast is a private investment club that has gathered more than 8k members including former basketball star Tony Parker, Ledger founder Éric Larchevêque and Aircall founder Jonathan Anguelov. The club invests mostly in pre-seed to Series A startups, in a variety of sectors — with a preference for deeptech, fintech, foodtech, climate tech, consumer and sport tech.
Notable deals:
- Keewe, a platform that assesses the carbon footprint of purchases made by SMBs;
- Wheere, which is building a location system works indoors, outdoors and underground;
- Aussitôt Bon, which offers a meal delivery service.
Frst
Pre-seed and seed deals: 16 (6 new, 10 follow-on)
HQ: Paris
Fund focus: Seed VC Frst has made a name for itself for backing a number of French unicorns including Pigment, Owkin and Payfit. It invests at a very early stage and across all sectors, and closed a €72m fund in 2023.
Notable deals:
- Electra, a climate tech that builds physical charging stations for electric vehicles as well as the software that supports the charging process;
- Dark, a spacetech that is working on removing space debris;
- Comand AI, which provides AI tools for defence forces.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/frances-most-active-pre-seed-and-seed-investors/
