French venture capital firm Emblem has successfully raised €80 million ($85 million USD) for its inaugural fund, despite a challenging funding environment.
The firm, founded by Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan and Guillaume Durao, will focus on seed-stage investments across France and the Nordics.
Investing in Europe’s Next Wave of Startups
Emblem plans to invest in 25 to 30 startups, writing checks between €500,000 and €3 million. While the firm prefers to lead or co-lead rounds, it is also open to participating as a follow-on investor in promising opportunities.
Since its first close in March 2023, Emblem has already backed 16 startups, including:
- Volta – A commerce platform focusing exclusively on B2B transactions, similar to Shopify.
- Pivot – A procurement platform competing with Coupa.
- The Mobile-First Company – A B2B mobile app studio inspired by consumer app models like Voodoo.
- Altrove – A deep-tech company leveraging AI and lab automation for material discovery.
Advertisement
Strong Support from Entrepreneurs and Institutions
The fund is backed by more than 200 limited partners, including tech entrepreneurs and executives from Unity, Pleo, Qonto, Spendesk, Voodoo, JobandTalent, Ledger, and Zendesk. These founders contributed over 50% of the fund’s total capital.
Additional backing came from institutional investors, including the European Investment Fund (EIFO) and Bpifrance, the French sovereign wealth fund.
Looking Ahead
Emblem’s core focus remains France and the Nordics, but the firm has also made strategic bets in the U.S. and Italy. With this fund now fully raised, Emblem is already planning its next fund, expected to be of a similar size.
“We’re taking some time to focus on deploying this fund, but since it takes about four years to invest, we’ll be back in the market raising again soon,” de Raphélis Soissan shared.
With a strong network of entrepreneurs and a diverse portfolio, Emblem is positioning itself as a key player in Europe’s early-stage startup ecosystem, despite ongoing headwinds in the venture capital landscape.
