16 Bon French VC Funds

From Venture Capital mutants to small boutique companies, the French market is filled with exciting funders that make fantastic partners to any SaaS company in the country of love, wine and baguettes, and Europe as a whole.

Ahead of the second leg of SaaStock on Tour, taking place in Pan Piper in Paris on May 3rd, we decided to dig deep and help you figure out who are the best funds to approach for support on the next stage of your growth. Below is a list in alphabetical order. Hope you enjoy it and see you in Paris. Grab an early bird ticket before April 12.

1. Alven Capital

Alven Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm with over $500 million under management. Alven backs primarily ambitious French and French-related entrepreneurs in the digital technology space. Alven’s sectors of interest include notably AI, data management platforms, SaaS, security solutions, as well as disruptive consumer models with a particular focus on marketplaces and web brands.

Founded: 2000
Size of fund: $500M
Stage: Seed, Early-stage
SaaS Investments: Most recent was ChartMogul in November, 2017. Other notable ones include MadKadu, Mention and Algolia.

2. Daphni

Daphni is the first VC as a platform. As they call themselves, a Venture Capital mutant that loves startups, enthusiasm and cookies. Daphni invest in user-oriented startups with European DNA and strong international ambition. The company is supported by daphnipolis, a closely-knit community of 200+ entrepreneurs, executives, academics, artists and advisors, and a digital platform to ensure both efficiency and full transparency.

Founded: 2015
Fund size: $165M
Stage: Seed
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Butterfly.ai in October 2017. Other notable investments include FoxIntelligence and FretLink.

3. Elaia Partners

Elaia Partners is an independent venture capital fund specialising in the Digital Economy. Elaia Partners invests in high-growth startups offering ground-breaking technologies, products and services, from the initial financing rounds through to their emergence as global leaders and supports its best performers to reach a massive scale. Elaia Partners aims to lead the initial financing round and to play a hands-on role in supporting entrepreneurs, notably by joining the Board of Directors.

Founded: 2002
Fund size: €250M
Stage: Series A
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Fretlink in April, 2017. Other notable investments include Shift Technologies, ForePaaS and Adomik.

4. Idinvest Partners

Idinvest Partners is a pan-European private equity manager focused on the low and middle market segments. The company has developed several complementary areas of expertise, including equity investments in buyout deals focusing on both mid-size as well as young innovative European companies; primary investments in European private equity funds focusing primarily on the middle market segment; secondary investments; mezzanine investments in Europe; and private equity consulting.

Founded: 2002
Fund size: €6B
Stage: Series A
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Peakon in February, 2018. Other notable ones include Talend, Botify, Cardiologs, Planday, Lumapps.

5. Iris Capital

Iris Capital is a pan-European venture capital investor specialized in digital economy mainly active in Europe. The team has invested over a billion euros in more than 300 innovative companies. Iris Capital is a multi-corporate fund sponsored by Orange, Publicis, Valeo, BRED Banque Populaire and Bpifrance. Investments rounds vary between €1M and €30M.

Founded: 1986
Fund size: €250M
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Shift Technology in October 2017. Other notable investments include Disqus, MailJet and Armis.

6. Isai

Isai is French entrepreneurs’s fund for early stage internet startups, founded by Pierre Kosciusko Morizet, Stephane Treppoz, Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, Ouriel Ohayon and Christophe Raynaud. The funds money comes from 130 French web entrepreneurs/CEO of companies.

Founded: 2009
Fund size: €160M
Stage: Seed
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Hyperlex in February, 2018.

7. Kerala Ventures

Kerala Ventures is an early stage VC firm investing up to €1.5m in web & mobile startups (pre-revenue or experiencing their first months of sales). Kerala Ventures provides entrepreneurs with concrete operational support such as: recruiting and hypergrowth management; product strategy, product definition, and specification; sales strategy and processes; financing and capital raising and; international expansion.

Founded: 2014
Fund size: N/A
Stage: Early-stage, Seed
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Doctolib in January, 2017.

8. Kima Ventures

Kima Ventures is one of the world’s most active early-stage investors, investing in 2 to 3 startups per week all over the world; providing founders with funding, network, and support for them to reach the next steps of their journey. The firm invests from seed to Series A, mostly as lead investor but also working alongside other investors; backing ambitious founders who work hard to build awesome things that more and more people use everyday. Over the last 5 years Kima has invested in over 400 startups in 24 different countries.

Founded: 2010
Fund size: N/A
Stage: Seed, Series A
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Ludus in November, 2017.

9. Omnes Capital

Omnes VC is the Venture Capital arm of Omnes Capital, a major player in private equity and infrastructure with €3.4 billion in assets under management and a 15 year + experience in: venture capital, buyout & growth capital, private debt, renewable energy, co-investment, secondary funds of funds. With 65 business sales including 14 IPOs carried out in 16 years, Omnes VC is one of the key players in France in financing innovative SMEs with expertise in both Technology and Healthcare sectors. Omnes VC has supported 120 companies and has invested more than €500 m in businesses.

Founded: 1999
Fund size: €1.2B
Stage: Debt, Early Stage Venture, Late Stage Venture, Private Equity, Seed
SaaS Investments: Most recent was AB Tasty in May, 2017.

10. Orange Digital Ventures

Orange Digital Ventures is Orange’s early-stage corporate investment vehicle. It comprises a dedicated team of telecoms, digital and investment professionals. Orange Digital Ventures is closely connected with all of the innovation in the Orange Group and especially relies on the international network of experts in innovation, from Orange Silicon Valley to various Orange Labs in France, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Founded: 2015
Fund size: €150M
Stage: Early-stage, Seed
SaaS Investments: Most recent was FollowAnalytics in December, 2017.

11. Otium Capital

Otium Capital is an early stage European venture capital fund. The firm invests at an early stage between €500,000 and €5 million across Europe. To address the needs of different startups, they’ve created two investment teams: Otium Venture focuses on tech investments, backing startups that create value through software, data and network effects. On the other hand, Otium Consumer focuses on consumer startups.

Founded: 2015
Fund size: €200M
Stage: Seed, Series A,
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Shippeo in November, 2017.

12. Partech Ventures

Partech Ventures is a global investment firm with a team spread across offices in Paris, Berlin, San Francisco and Dakar. Most Partners have been entrepreneurs themselves or have held management positions within tech companies. Partech partners with entrepreneurs at the seed, venture and growth stages. Companies backed by Partech have completed 21 initial public offerings and more than 50 major M&A transactions with leading international companies.

Founded: 1982
Fund size: €1.05B
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
SaaS Investments: Most recent was SendinBlue in September, 2017. Other notable investments unclude AB Tasty, Glofox and Brandwatch.

13. Serena Capital

Serena Capital is an investment structure recognized in France and Europe. The firm is focused on innovation and digital markets and targets high-growth, technology-driven companies, with proven product or service offerings that address the needs of a large market, and management teams that demonstrate entrepreneurial skills and strong execution capacities.

Founded: 2008
Fund size: €250M
Stage: Seed, Series A
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Bestmile in March, 2018.

14. Seventure Partners

Seventure Partners is a French venture capital firm targeting in information and communication technology, and life sciences companies. It funds innovation and participates in the entrepreneurial adventure, alongside entrepreneurs and sharing their passion. Seventure Partners is an active partner of innovative companies that, according to the management team, show strong growth potential and evolving in two fields of activity: Digital Technologies and Life Sciences.

Founded: 1997
Fund size: €660M
Stage: Seed, Series A
SaaS Investments: Most recent was BotFuel in March, 2017.

15. Ventech

Ventech is a venture capital firm specializing in fintech sector and the digital economy. The firm primarily invests in companies based in France and Continental Europe. The firm typically invests between €1 million ($1.35 million) and €3 million ($4.06 million) in the first financing round, with initial investments between €2 million ($2.71 million) and €5 million ($6.77 million), and between €5 million ($6.77 million) and €10 million ($13.55 million) in total per company over two or three financing rounds.

Founded: 1998
Fund size: €110M
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B
SaaS Investments: Most recent was Freespee in November, 2016.

16. XAnge

XAnge is a venture capital firm that invest in Early-Stage innovative companies to bring up the market disruptive technologies. Part of the top-10 French & German investors, they invest in ambitious entrepreneurs in the following areas: — New use cases in Digital consumer — B2B Software and Cloud technologies — Specialized high-tech (Cleantech, Biotech, Networks) XAnge is Siparex group venture brand since the merger of XAnge PE and Siparex.

Founded: 2015
Fund size: €261M
Stage: Seed, Series A
SaaS Investments: Most recent was AB Tasty in May, 2017.