Emblem VC Firm Announces Final Closing of First Fund

A Significant Achievement in the Current Funding Environment

Emblem, a relatively new European VC firm based in Paris, has announced the final closing of its first fund, securing €80 million in total (approximately $85 million at current exchange rates). This achievement is notable, especially considering the current funding environment, where venture funding has fallen for the third year in a row, according to Atomico’s latest State of European Tech report.

Challenges in the VC Industry

The VC industry is facing challenges, with acquisitions and IPOs not happening at the moment. As a result, VC as an investment category is less attractive than it used to be. Several VC firms are struggling to raise follow-on funds despite the current artificial intelligence boom, which could potentially represent a huge investment opportunity.

Emblem’s Success Story

Despite these challenges, Emblem was able to reach its hard cap, the maximum amount it had originally set to raise. The firm was founded by Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan and Guillaume Durao, who had already made some interesting investments as business angels before creating Emblem. They invested in crypto trading card game Sorare, pet insurance startup Dalma, and cultivated meat company Gourmey, among others.

Investment Strategy

Emblem’s strategy is to make 25 to 30 investments with its initial fund, with a focus on seed investments ranging from €500,000 to €3 million. The firm is willing to follow another lead investor if there’s a good opportunity, too. Since its first closing in March 2023, Emblem has already invested in 16 startups, including:

• Pivot, a procurement tool and Coupa competitor
• The Mobile-First Company, a B2B mobile app studio drawing inspiration from Voodoo and other consumer app studio
• Altrove, a new materials company using AI and lab automation to speed up research
• Volta, an online commerce platform like Shopify, but focused exclusively on B2B transactions

Diverse Portfolio and Focus

Emblem’s portfolio is diverse, with investments in various areas and geographical regions. The firm has made 16 investments, with eight in France, six in the Nordics (Denmark, Sweden), one in the U.S., and one in Italy. Emblem’s core focus remains on France and the Nordic tech ecosystem.

Limited Partners and Fund Structure

Emblem has more than 200 limited partners who invested in the first fund, including family offices and tech entrepreneurs, such as the founders of Unity, Pleo, Qonto, 3shape, Spendesk, Voodoo, Pennylane, JobandTalent, Ledger, and Zendesk. The rest of the fund has been raised from several funds of funds, as well as commitments from both EIFO (the Danish sovereign fund) and Bpifrance (the French sovereign fund).

Looking Ahead

Emblem is already thinking about its next fund, which should be roughly the same size as this one. The firm’s managing partners, Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan and Guillaume Durao, are aware that they won’t need to raise funds for a while, but they also know that they need to stay on-market to continue investing in startups. As de Raphélis Soissan said, "Now we’ve got a bit of time when we won’t need to raise. So we’re going to savor it. But you never want to be off-market."