European VC firm Emblem raises $85 million for its initial fund

SymbolA relatively European VC firm in Paris announces the final completion of its first fund. After eighteen months First offThe symbol team was able to secure a total of $ 80 million (about $ 85 million in current exchange rate).

This is not a small reputation in the current fund environment. According to the latest State of European Tech Report, Atomico, in 2021, The Venture Fund fell in the third year of the consecutiveThe One of the main reasons for this is the acquisition and IPOs are not happening right now.

As a result, the VC as an investment department is less attractive than ever. Several VC companies are fighting for follow-on funds, despite the current artificial intelligence boom, which can probably represent a huge investment opportunity.

But it did not prevent the symbol reaching its hard cap – it originally set the amount to increase. Dee Rafales Sisan and Gilliam Dura were also established in Bendict, the pair had already investing some interesting as a business angel before making the symbol. They have invested in the Crypto Trading Card Game SowingPet insurance startup DalmaAnd the cultivated meat company GurusA few names.

They wanted to move further with a proper VC firm, which as a symbol, a seed investment agency that wants to invest 25 to 30 with its initial funds. Ideally, they will rather give the leadership or co-leadership of seed round with $ 500,000 to $ 3 million tickets. But if the firm has a good opportunity, then another lead is willing to follow the investor.

The symbol has already invested in 16 startups since the first closed in March 2023. TechCrunch has covered some of them. Examples include:

• PivotA collection equipment and cupa contestant.
• Mobile-first companyA B2B Mobile App Studio Voodoo and Other Customer App Drawing Inspirations from Studio.
• SomewhereA new material company using AI and Lab Automation to speed up research.
• TimeAn online trade platform like Shopiff, however, has focused exclusively on the B2B transaction.

This is in the field of focus, but in the case of geographical focus it is a strange portfolio. “We have invested 16. To give you an idea, there are eight of them in France, six of them in Nordics – Denmark, Sweden – and then we made one in a US and an Italy, “De Rafaleis told Techcunch.

The main focus of the symbol remains on France and the Nordic Tech Ecosystem. It has more than 200 limited partners who invested in the first fund, including family offices and technology entrepreneurs, such as Unity, Plio, Koto, 3 Shape, Spotsk, Voodoo, Pennillion, Jobandtal, Laser and Jendesk. They have been more than half of the total amount.

The rest have been raised from the promise of both EIFO (Danish sovereign fund) and BPIFrance (French sovereign fund) in addition to the funds of several funds. The symbol is already thinking about its next fund, which should be roughly the same size.

“Now when we do not need to grow, we have some time. So we’re going to taste it. But you never want to be in the market off-market, “De Rafals Sisan says. . ”.