French VC signature Daphni He is announcing the first closure of his new background, Daphni Blue. The company has raised 200 million euros (around $ 215 million to current exchange rates). He hopes to raise up to 250 million euros ($ 270 million) by the end of the year.
Some of Daphni’s most notable past investments include Back Market, Swile, Hubcycle and Pasqal. In general, the company has invested in 70 new European companies since 2015.
With its last fund, Daphni plans to invest in 40 new companies. Limited partners in Daphni Blue include Credit Mutuel Arkéa, Bpifrance, the European Investment Fund, Pro BTP and Swen Capital Partners.
“We need to ask ourselves how we can differentiate and support technologies or services that are sustainable when we invest in new projects,” founding partner Pierre-Eric Leibovici told me.
“Because at the end of the day, there are cycles, and we can see that at one point, the market is consolidated, or is dominated by American players, or in the end, there was not enough advance to start.”
While most risk capital companies mention artificial intelligence in any other prayer, Daphni wants to emphasize science (in general) as the main factor for the next wave of innovation: Life Sciences, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
“When he speaks of quantum computing, well, quantum computing is a fundamental physics combined with hardware and software,” Leibovici said. He also said that large language models are advances in mathematics first.
As a result, Daphni is recruiting different profiles to join the team. For example, a doctoral graduate and a doctoral student are in the investment team.
“There is another element that is a new trend. The new generation of researchers is much more open to market their fundamental and applied research, because they see all their friends around them to the companies that start,” Leibovici said.
While French universities are reserve A part of his budget to attract American researchers, Daphni says he did not choose to re -behered in fundamental sciences because of that.
“It’s a coincidence. We launched so much before there was this trend,” Leibovici said. Of course, Daphni is open to invest in American researchers who are starting a startup in Europe.
Next, Daphni will have to implement this freshly collected capital and demonstrate that he has found an efficient investment strategy. “The elevation is not an end in itself. What is an end in itself is to distribute returns and, therefore, it comes out,” said Leibovici.