From left: Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan and Guillaume Durao. Image: Emblem
Founders Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan and Guillaume Durao said the Emblem fund will focus on start-ups based in France and the Nordics.
Emblem is the latest in a line of European early-stage venture capital funds that focus on pre-seed and seed stage start-ups in the continent.
Based in France, Emblem was founded this year by entrepreneur Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan and former banker Guillaume Durao. The seed fund focuses primarily on businesses based in France and the Nordics region.
Emblem recently announced a €50m close for its first fund that will initially focus on up to 30 promising start-ups in France, Denmark and Sweden across a range of sectors including AI, fintech, future of work, software as a service and digital health.
The eventual fund will be valued at €75m, which Emblem aims to fill in the third quarter of this year. Individual investments will range from €500,000 to €3m.
“The first two years of a start-up are about hustling and craftsmanship, a pressure that rests heavily on founders’ shoulders who need to be supported,” said Durao, a former tech investment banker turned VC who spent a decade as a partner at Idinvest Partners and Mangrove Capital.
“Building unique, non-replicable things like culture and product are critical, and we’re dedicated to helping founders tackle these challenges at the earliest stages of their journey.”
Durao said that the choice to focus on start-ups based in France and the Nordics is because that is where the duo have the most presence and the tech scenes in these regions “still offer an underserved opportunity” at the seed stage.
Investment in the first funding round raised by Emblem was led by Danish sovereign fund Vaekstfonden. Other backers include French corporate Edenred as well as several French and Nordic family offices and entrepreneurs.
Start-ups that raise money from Emblem are set to benefit from a wealth of experience. Co-founder De Raphélis Soissan has previously founded a start-up called Clustree which got snapped up by Cornerstone OnDemand.
“Few European investors have first-hand experience in founding and running a company through to exit,” said Alban de Préville, founder of French start-up Dalma which has been previously backed by Durao and De Raphélis Soissan.
“Benedicte and Guillaume have felt more like allies than investors on our start-up journey – their combined expertise and ability to get right to the heart of the business has been invaluable during critical growth points.”
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