Frans VC company Daphni Announces the first closure of his new fund, Daphni Blue. The company raised € 200 million (around $ 215 million against the current exchange rates). It is expected to raise no less than € 250 million ($ 270 million) by the end of the year.
Some of Daphni’s most remarkable investments from the past include Back Market, Swile, Hubcycle and Pasqal. In general, the company has invested in 70 European startups since 2015.
With his latest fund, Daphni is planning to invest in another 40 startups. Limited partners in Daphni Blue are Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, BPifrance, the European Investment Fund, Pro BTP and Swen Capital Partners.
“We have to ask ourselves how we can distinguish ourselves and support technologies or services that are sustainable when we invest in new projects,” the founder Pierre-Eric Leibovici told me.
“Because there are cycles at the end of the day, and we can see that at a certain moment the market consolidates, or is dominated by American players, or ultimately, there was not enough of a breakthrough in the beginning.”
Although most VC companies call artificial intelligence in any other sense, Daphni wants to emphasize science (in general) as the most important factor for the next wave of innovation: Life Sciences, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
“When you talk about Quantum Computing, Quantum Computing Fundamental Physics is combined with hardware and software,” said Leibovici. He also said that large language models are mathematics in the first place.
As a result, Daphni recruits various profiles to join the team. For example, a PhD students and a PhD student are in the investment team.
“There is another element that is a new trend. The new generation of researchers is much more open to commercializing their fundamental and applied research because they see all their friends around them starting companies,” said Leibovici.
While French universities are set aside Part of their budget to attract American researchers, Daphni says that it did not choose to re -concentrate on fundamental science.
“It’s a coincidence. We were so launched long before there was this trend,” said Leibovici. Of course Daphni is open to investing in American researchers who start a startup in Europe.
Daphni will then have to use this newly raised capital and prove that it has found an efficient investment strategy. “Noticing is not a goal in itself. What is a goal in itself is to spread returns and therefore excluded,” said Leibovici.
