HI Inov closes maiden VC fund on €40m

HI Inov is a VC-focused investor created by the Dentressangle Initiative holding in 2012. Fundraising for its maiden vehicle HI Inov 1 kicked off during spring 2013, with a first close reached in July 2013.

The fund, a standard FPCI structure, is the second targeting digital startups to be recorded by unquote" this week. On 7 October, German cooperative bank Berliner Volksbank announced it would set up a €20m VC vehicle prioritising assets from the digital sector.

Investors
The Dentressangle family is the most prominent contributor to HI Inov 1, allocating €15m of the total €40m in commitments. In addition, the LP base includes media group Amaury; French bank Caisse d'Epargne Rhône-Alpes; insurance names such as Uneo, Neuflize Vie, Apicil and Micil; and 44 family offices and business angels.

Investments
HI Inov 1 will deploy €500,000-4m tickets to acquire 12-15 stakes across its lifespan. The fund will seek companies from the digital sector; featured segments include e-services, point-of-sale technologies, digital media and social networks, the internet of things, mobile apps and digital economy software developers.

The fund will prioritise startups with a proven business model where a €500,000-1m revenues bracket has already been reached.

As of early October, the fund already manages five portfolio companies, including media agency Geolid, which raised €3m in January 2013. The deal was followed by a €1.5m investment in media group Mensquare in November 2013, a $7.3m round for Parisian e-commerce service Commerce Guys in June 2014 and a €6.5m series-B for digital marketer TagCommander in October of the same year.

Most recently, near-field-communication specialist Famoco raised €4m from HI Inov 1 and BPI France in July 2015.

People
Pierre-Henri Dentressangle is CEO of HI Inov, while Valérie Gombart and Valère Rames are managing director and senior project manager at the VC investor, respectively.

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