Raise holds first close for venture fund on €60m

Raise Venture, launched in October 2017, is the fourth fund of French firm Raise.

The firm announced it recently hires François Collet as partner, joining from 360 Capital Partners.

The GP was founded in 2013 by Clara Gaymard and former Equistone president Gonzagues de Blignières. Raise is currently managing a €390m minority investments vehicle, Raise Investissement, injecting between €10-40m in companies with revenues of €50-500m, as well as a not-for-profit endowment aiming to support and finance young businesses. It also launched Raise REIM for real estate investments.

As was the case for Raise Investissement and REIM, 50% of the carry generated by this new venture structure will be redirected to finance the endowment fund.

Rather than a closed-ended fund, it is understood that the venture arm will take the form of an investment company in order to be able to back businesses without time restrictions.

Investors
To date, around 10 corporates have backed the vehicle, such as Bouygues, Danone and L'Oréal, as well as business angels, notably Michael Benabou, the co-founder of website vente-privee.com.  

Investments
The vehicle will make investments between €500,000-7m to support French and European startups.

Raise's venture arm has already completed two French investments since the fund's launch, backing Bird Office, a startup that rents out office rooms to companies for professional events, and marketing specialist Jabmo, focusing on capturing anonymous buyer activity.

People
Raise – Matthieu Dordolo (chargé d'affaires); Pierre-Edouard Berion, Matthieu Dordolo (partners).  

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