Paris-based Elaia, a venture capital firm that focuses on digital and deep-tech startups across all stages, has closed a new €77 million fund in partnership with Inria. This fund is over the target size of €65 million.
Leading investors in the round include VINCI Concessions, Inria, Bpifrance for the Fonds National d’Amorçage 2 (FNA 2), Covéa Finance, BNP Paribas (which invested in Backbase and Ganymed Robotics), L’Oréal and Malakoff Humanis
Elaia Alpha II Fund
Elaia Alpha II Fund is a part of the VC firm’s proactive strategy to promote technological entrepreneurship. The firm’s second deep tech dedicated fund aims to invest in pre-seed and seed stages in 30 to 40 European companies, in various fields such as AI, data science, digital health, cybersecurity, digital infrastructures, enterprise software, industrial IoT and embedded systems.
Founded in Paris by Philippe Gire and Xavier Lazarus in 2022, the Elaia Alpha II Fund has made 14 investments, which is a promising start to its deployment and the quality of its deal flow.
“We are delighted with this new deep tech seed fund at Elaia, which together with PSL Innovation Fund, give us firepower of €153M to invest in technological startups close to research. We now have 33 startups in the deep tech seed portfolio, and see success reaching go to market, refinancing and international development,” explained Anne-Sophie Carrese, partner at Elaia.
Appoints new board member
Besides the second fund, Elaia has announced the appointment of its newest and first independent board member, Anne Bouverot. Anne Bouverot is the Chairperson of the Board of Directors at Technicolor, a multinational leader in media and technology. She is also the Co-founder of Fondation Abeona: the first collective championing responsible AI.
Anne Bouverot, new board member at Elaia stated: “I am very proud to join the Board of Elaia, the leading European VC backing deep tech startups. I am convinced that paving the way to a sustainable and inclusive digital transition implies to think and act concretely at European scale. Accelerating the pioneering Tech startups in AI, data science, cybersecurity, or digital health, driven by a common taste of innovation, is a way to decoding tomorrow and a path to soft power- promoting European values and vision of society, concern for social impact and an ethical sensibility.”
Xavier Lazarus, Managing Partner at Elaia added: “We believe that adding Anne Bouverot, a very senior and talented professional, as an independent board member at Elaia, is a great way to ensure that we, as a company, aim to consolidating our leadership as a tech and deeptech VC while building a great and safe environment for our team, our investors and our entrepreneurs. Together, we will definitely bring Elaia to the next stage!”
