Emblem, a relatively new venture capital firm based in Paris, has announced that it has raised $85 million in its first fund, 18 months after the company’s initial closing of €80 million.
A major achievement despite challenging conditions.
This is no small feat given the current challenges in the venture capital market. According to Atomico’s latest European Technology Report, venture capital investment continued to decline for the third consecutive year in 2024. The slowdown in IPOs and acquisitions has made venture capital less attractive to investors.
However, despite the potential for significant growth in the AI space, a number of companies are struggling to raise further funding. Emblem, however, has managed to reach its hard cap.
Emblem founders and success factors
Emblem was founded by Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan and Guillaume Durao. Before founding the venture capital firm, they had invested in promising startups such as Sorare (crypto card game), Dalma (pet insurance) and Gourmey (artificial meat production).
Emblem plans to invest in 25-30 startups with its first fund. Investments can range from €500,000 to €3 million. They usually prefer to participate as a lead or co-founder, but are open to partnering with other investors if the opportunity arises.
Portfolio Diversity and Geographic Coverage
As of March 2023, Emblem has invested in 16 startups. Some of them are:
Pivot: a procurement management tool and Coupa competitor.
The Mobile-First Company: a B2B studio developing mobile applications.
Altrove: creating new materials using artificial intelligence and laboratory automation.
Volta: an online platform focused exclusively on B2B commerce.
These startups are also geographically diverse: eight of them are located in France, six in Scandinavia (Denmark and Sweden), one in the US, and one in Italy.
Investors and future plans
The Emblem fund has more than 200 limited partners invested, including founders of major companies such as Unity, Pleo, Qonto, Spendesk, Voodoo. The rest of the fund is financed by large institutions such as the Danish state fund (EIFO) and the French state fund (Bpifrance).
Emblem does not see the need to raise new funds yet. However, the company plans to launch another fund of a similar size in the future. “We have time now, but no one wants to be out of the market,” says Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan, one of the founders of the company. We plan to spend the entire fund in four years, which means that we should be ready to move to the next stage in a year.”
Emblem venture capital company is achieving great success despite the difficult conditions through its careful strategy and successful management. In the future, they aim to continue supporting new projects in the technology sector.
