Paris-based VC Daphni, an early backer of quantum computing startup Pasqal and buzzy agentic AI company H, has raised €200m to be invested in science and climate tech, with plans to close with a further €50m by the end of the year.
The sector has been through a turbulent few months, with US president Donald Trump rolling back support for climate research and other initiatives at home and abroad, prompting fears of a knock-on investment drought.
But founding partner Pierre-Eric Leibovici tells Sifted that Trump’s actions could work in Europe’s favour, with experts relocating to the continent to continue their work. “It’s going to create lots of opportunities,” he said. “There is a way to capitalise on current geopolitical events, as well as on our DNA around environmental issues, to create lots of leaders.”
This is the third fund raised by Daphni, and the VC tells Sifted it’s aiming for a final close at €250m by the end of the year.
The first tranche was raised from LPs including French banking and insurance group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, public bank Bpifrance, pension provider Pro BTP, as well as French PE firm Swen Capital Partners and the European Investment Fund.
The new fund will back early-stage science-based startups dedicated to the climate transition and sustainability, in fields like life sciences, biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics.
With tickets ranging from €1m-8m, Daphni will back 40 startups across Europe, with the possibility to follow on up to €15m per company.
Science and climate
Leibovici says that after years that saw the tech sector focus largely on software-as-a-service (SaaS) like HR tech and fintech, he expects to see future leaders emerge instead from research labs and scientific institutes.
“This is where future breakthroughs will happen, and these breakthroughs will serve the climate transition, which remains the initial thesis,” Leibovici tells Sifted.
He points to Airthium, a French startup building heat pumps that it says are more efficient, cleaner and low-cost, cofounded by Andreï Klochko, an alumni of prestigious French engineering school École Polytechnique. Daphni backed Airthium in a €2.4m seed round last year.
Leibovici says that Daphni will source deals for the new fund in Europe’s top universities and research institutes like EPFL (Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and ETH Zurich.
It comes at a time when researchers are more interested in entrepreneurship than ever, says Leibovici.
“New researchers have lots of friends launching startups in lots of fields, so they are more acculturated to the valorisation of their research, to moving from fundamental research to applied research,” he says.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/daphni-250m-fund-climate/
