Emblem, a relatively new European VC company based in Paris, has announced the final closure of its first fund. Eighteen months after the initial closure, the emblem team was able to secure a total of 80 million euros (approximately $85 million at the current exchange rate).
This is not a small feat in the current financial environment. Venture funding for 2024 fell for the third consecutive year, according to Atomico's latest European Technology Report. One of the main reasons for this is that acquisitions and IPOs are not actually happening.
As a result, VC as an investment category is less attractive than before. Some VC companies are struggling to raise subsequent funds despite the current artificial intelligence boom.
But that didn't stop the emblem from reaching the hard cap – the maximum amount that was originally about to raise. Founded by Bénédict deraphélis Soissan and Guillaume Durao, the duo had already made an interesting investment as a business angel before creating Emblem. They invested in crypto trading card game Sorare, pet insurance startup Dalma, and cultivation meat company Gourmey.
They wanted to go a step further into Emblem to Emblem, a seed investment company that wants to invest 25-30 in their first fund. Ideally, they would rather lead or co-lead the seed round with tickets ranging from 500,000 to 3 million euros. However, the company is willing to follow another lead investor whenever it has a good opportunity.
The emblem has already invested in 16 startups since its first closure in March 2023. TechCrunch covers some of them. An example is:
Pivot, procurement tools and competitors of Coupa. Mobile First Company is a B2B mobile app studio that takes inspiration from Voodoo and other Consumer App Studios. ALTROVE, a new material company that uses AI and lab automation to speed up research. Volta is an online commerce platform like Shopify, but it focuses solely on B2B transactions.
In terms of focus areas, we also have a diverse portfolio of geographical focus. “We have made 16 investments. We have eight in France to give you ideas. Six are six in Denmark, Sweden, and we are one in the US, one in Italy. I created people.”
The central focus of the emblem remains in the French and Scandinavian technological ecosystems. We have over 200 limited partners who have invested in the first fund, including family offices and high-tech entrepreneurs, including Unity, Preo, Qonto, 3shape, Spendesk, Voodoo, Pennylane, Jobandtalent, Ledger, Zendesk, and more. They make up for more than half of the total.
The rest was raised from funds from several funds and from commitments from both EIFO (Denmark Sovereignty Fund) and Bpifrance (French Sovereignty Fund). The emblem is already thinking about the next fund. This should be roughly the same size as this fund.
“There are a few times right now that we don't have to grow, so we're going to taste it. But you never want to be out of the market,” Delaferis Sossan said. “So it takes four years to unfold, so it means we'll have to start all the way through and again in a year.”