Frst, the Paris-based VC agency with no vowel in its identify, is within the technique of elevating its second fund. The agency has already reached a primary closing of €72 million (practically $80 million at at this time’s change price).
And if there’s one factor to say about this new fund is that it’s enterprise as common for Frst. Because the identify suggests, Frst goals to be the primary VC agency to spend money on a tech startup.
Frst even tells me that round half of the VC agency’s time period sheets are despatched earlier than the startups are integrated. The agency has determined to maintain the very same system with some contemporary capital to speculate over the following few years.
The workforce led by Pierre Entremont and Bruno Raillard initially met after they have been working for Otium Enterprise as a part of Pierre-Edouard Stérin’s household workplace. In 2019, the workforce created its personal VC agency and raised the preliminary Frst fund (known as Frst 2). On the time, Frst raised €90 million (practically $100 million at at this time’s change price).
With at this time’s new fund known as Frst 3, the funding agency expects to achieve the higher restrict of €100 million ($110 million). Frst has already secured funding from the European Funding Fund, Bpifrance’s Fonds Nationwide d’Amorçage 2, Axa Enterprise Companions and Isomer. A number of particular person buyers are additionally investing within the fund itself, resembling entrepreneurs working for Payfit, Owkin, Shippeo, Pigment, Electra, Supercell, Wolt, Aiven and Homa Video games.
Whereas Frst doesn’t deal with one vertical particularly, the agency believes that there will likely be loads of fascinating funding alternatives within the coming years as a result of rise of synthetic intelligence.
“The speedy developments noticed within the area of Synthetic Intelligence over the previous few months and the disruptions they’re creating make an especially favorable context for startups. From work to medication, protection, schooling, or pure useful resource administration, the economic system and society as an entire are making ready to bear unprecedented adjustments,” Pierre Entremont mentioned in an announcement.
Total, should you embody Otium Enterprise’s unique €44 million fund, the Frst workforce has greater than €200 million of belongings managed or suggested ($219 million). With this metric, Frst says that it’s now the most important seed fund targeted on French startups particularly.
“France is especially nicely positioned to play a number one function on this upcoming revolution, notably as a consequence of its manufacturing of high technical expertise. That is why Synthetic Intelligence has at all times been a really current theme in our investments, with, for example, Owkin or Doctrine 7 years in the past. We have now additionally already made a number of investments with Frst 3 in groups with outstanding technical high quality,” Bruno Raillard mentioned in an announcement.
The Frst workforce has invested in dozens of startups, resembling Pigment, Electra, Poolside, Doctrine, Payfit, Shippeo and Owkin. With its new fund, it plans to speculate between €1 million and €3 million in round 30 firms.
