Marie Ekeland

Time to step up Germany 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 Corporations have pledged to invest €15bn in France at the “Choose France” summit — an annual event held since 2018 to facilitate foreign investments in the country. A large chunk of the money will be dedicated to AI. Microsoft stole the show after announcing its largest investment in France to date, a €4bn cash envelope to build more data centres — and expand existing ones — across the country by the end of 2025. The focus is on increasing the capacity of GPUs, which are needed to run large AI models. Amazon also announced that it’ll invest €1.2bn to further develop its French cloud and AI infrastructure. Quantum computing was also on the agenda. IBM pledged to invest €45m to expand the company’s research efforts in France. Up to 50 quantum researchers and engineers will be recruited in the country in the next year.

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What do you need to be top quartile as a SaaS company in Europe? Sébastien Le Roy started to share the results of the Serena European SaaS benchmark during #Saastr Europa this week. Great way to quickly check whether you’re on track for a next VC round or simply what you have to improve. More results coming soon with the whole report.

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💟 This is the kind of news that makes you love Venture Capital! 🦄🇫🇷 Some will only remember the €1.5 billion exit for a French company. It's not a UNICORN valuation, it's a real EXIT! 3️⃣ 6️⃣ Some will only remember the x36 multiple on investment. 💥 Some will only remember the €175 million proceeds returned to the funds with a single operation. 👑What I'll remember, is Denis Ladegaillerie's passion, vision, and ambition. These are the keys to success. Excited to share this fantastic news for Believe, for Ventech, but also for the entire Tech ecosystem! 🚀 #VentureCapital #SuccessStory cc France Digitale

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A must read for every founder (and investor) in B2B marketplaces. ⤵️ All credits to Fabrice Grinda + FJ Labs 👏🏽 https://lnkd.in/eB7uGzyH #firstdegree #founders #investors #whyrelationshipsmatter
#alwaysbelearning #sharingknowledge

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Deal Lite, Techcelerate & SkilledUp Life response to Roberto Bonanzinga's attempt to find out the most active HealthTech investor in Europe. https://deallite.uk could answer the first question for the UK. Deal Lite captures 475 VCs and CVCs who have actually invested into one or more HealthTech companies in the UK. But at present, it cannot rank the investors. 😥 Deal Lite News also lists 212 HealthTech funding rounds https://lnkd.in/dGXm33G These news stories are shared weekly through https://lnkd.in/efmz5xBP Two https://lnkd.in/eKeefU7 #HealthTech companies exited over the last few years - 2022 - https://lnkd.in/dKGPHjHq Andrew Threlfall to Civica - 2023 - https://lnkd.in/ebv2wS9a Thomas Andrew Porteus to Agilio Software Doc Abode led by Taz Aldawoud is another #HealthTech company of https://lnkd.in/eYd7qKvN which is growing rapidly. A number of HealthTech startups rely on our 44,500+ skilled volunteers at https://skilledup.life. Among them are: - South Africa: https://lnkd.in/e53eK5hi led by Mmasea PeTje Whilst not a HealthTech company, a UK Doctor runs https://lnkd.in/eKqTUDDi - sadly, she juggles too many things at present (which is one of the reasons she is on #SkilledUpLife) leading to lack of information on the company page. Just a round of #healthtech in my tiny world. 😁 Oh, among my failures was trying to build a healthtech startup once. I shut it down due to co-founder issues. https://lnkd.in/g8WXE3ui. (images in comments) These days I run my 3 ventures without any co-founders. In one respect, we are lucky due to amazing volunteer talent at www.skilledup.life - 44,500 and counting. I also got amazing HealthTech companies and founders who are not quite in my inner circle. Among them is the American who want to be a Sri Lankan Billa Bhandari 🤣 Can't wait for him to join the inner circle one day (I know he is already offended). Show me the 💰 🤑 🤣

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Tomorrow I’m lucky to be hosting a panel with three exceptional founders: - Gilles Gaillard - Co-founder of Animaj, raised 100m EUR (in equity and debt) in 2023 to build an AI-powered animation studio that counts 𝗮 stunning 15 billion (!) YouTube views per year. Animaj acquires animation and cartoon franchises to turn them into digital-first content and amplifies their distribution using AI. - Baptiste Jamin - Co-founder of Crisp IM, 42 alumni, also can be called the “King of Bootstrap”. He started building chatbots in 2015, 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹. Crisp centralises all customer interactions through live chat, chatbots, and a shared inbox. Today Crisp serves over 600,000 companies without raising any funds. - Vincent SIMON - Co-founder of Relationchips and founder of Simundia. Vincent is a serial entrepreneur & investor who founded a coaching platform that raised over 15m EUR & is currently working on a no-code sales workflow platform. What do they have in common? They started their career as freelancers and worked their way up to become highly successful entrepreneurs. 👉 Join us at Le Wagon tomorrow at 7pm to hear their story. We’ll also host a networking session for you to meet people from our community who are working on projects that might interest you. 🔗Link to register in the comments.

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🌟 Seeking Recommendations: Who is the Best Venture Capital Investor in Europe for Health Tech? 🌟 Hello LinkedIn network, In the dynamic landscape of health technology, I'm eager to connect with top-tier venture capital investors driving innovation in Europe's health tech sector. Your insights and recommendations are crucial. Who, in your opinion, is the leading venture capital firm in health tech across Europe? Who are the key general partners (GPs) propelling their success? Share your valuable experiences and thoughts on the VCs and GPs shaping the future of health tech. Thank you for your suggestions! #startups #entrepreneurship #tech #europe #venturecapital

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Only 4% of EU VC's have previous startup experience... versus 60% in US  In CVC in EU it will even be worse... (educated guess)  There are some more interesting insights on the low level of support by VC's, the needs from startups, .... in the article below  This confirms also the need for more VC Platform roles in the EU #vcplatform (see my previous post on VC Platform roles)  #venturecapital 

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🔎 💸 #opensource founders - are you looking for #VC funding? This one slide presented by Maxime Corbani for Percona University explains what investors are looking for from #OSS startups 🚀 Thanks for sharing Peter Zaitsev #venturecapital #COSS

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For all those in scale-up, 25 mins of listening to Seb is well worth it. A really clear set of priorities and realities of growing (and turning around) scale-ups. https://lnkd.in/esnuxRKr

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Whether you're a French startup founder or investing in the French tech ecosystem, this is a must-have resource: The Serena 2024 Edition of the Ultimate VC List is live! Fundraising can be incredibly time-consuming. That’s why, back in 2016, Serena created the Ultimate VC List to streamline the process for entrepreneurs in France. Now an interactive platform, it has supported over 100,000 entrepreneurs and VCs in the ecosystem. Some key trends Sébastien Le Roy and Maxime Furet spotted when putting this edition together: 🚀 The French VC ecosystem is thriving with new funds like Resonance, OVNI Capital, Yellow, and Varsity, signaling a vibrant and expanding market. 🌍 There’s increased interest from US and European funds for French startups, particularly in AI and climate tech, and a rise in non-traditional investors such as Business Angel Clubs and Family Offices (which are now covered by a new section). 🔧 Infrastructure investors are playing a critical role in funding innovative hybrid models amid global warming challenges. ♻️ The growing presence of impact VCs highlights the focus on socially and environmentally impactful investments.

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What are some valuable insights into the European startup ecosystem? I recently had the opportunity to read an insightful discussion between two established investors in the European venture space - Saul Klein of LocalGlobe and Raluca Ragab of Eurazeo. At the TechCrunch StrictlyVC event in London, they generously shared their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges facing founders and investors across the continent (for source or entire article see comment). While the fundamentals of starting and scaling a high-growth business remain similar everywhere, Saul and Raluca highlighted some key differences that impact the European landscape. One aspect they discussed was the relative lack of liquidity events compared to the U.S., which makes returns riskier for investors. With fewer large exits, it can be more difficult to attract later stage capital. 🔝 At the same time, both highlighted many promising qualities of Europe's startup hubs. Talent pools are deep, and multinational collaboration comes naturally to entrepreneurs in the region. Government programs also aim to foster innovation, and COVID has accelerated the digital transformation of traditional industries 🏭. However, Klein and Ragab's perspectives underscore the work that still needs to be done in Europe to catch up with the U.S. exit environment. Their balanced view got me thinking about how to strengthen Europe's network effects in the long term. As leaders seeking to build an inclusive world of shared prosperity, what innovative strategies could help connect the continent's many vibrant startup ecosystems? I'd love to hear your thoughts. #D11ZVentures #techcrunch #FutureOfTech #VCInsights

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Yesterday I argued the only thing that matters for a startup is getting to product-market fit (PMF), quoting Marc Andreessen’s classic blog from 2007. This is part 2 of a mini series on PMF. Here Michael Siebel of Y Combinator explains his thinking on the real PMF. In this video, he explains: - It is often intellectually convenient to claim PMF without having to actually achieve it - founders often forget the real challenge is to solve a problem - PMF is misunderstood 98% of the time, like it’s undefined or a flexibly defined term - it’s often mistaken for something close but different; I built the thing that customers want - PMF is what happens after you have built the things that customers want - the only way you know you’ve built something that customers want is because they’re buying it in an explosive and destructive way - if you’re not getting explosive usage you do not have what customers want or there aren’t that many customers in which case you don’t have a big business - once you find PMF it’s almost like this is going to work unless you screw it up https://lnkd.in/efh6Fpt4

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The European Women in VC 2024 flagship report is finally out! We're thrilled by the report's findings: 87% of VCs and LPs agree - diverse teams lead to better investment decisions and stronger returns! 📈 Aligned with this data, our Fund IV invests solely in gender-mixed founding teams, statistically proven to be correlated with stronger financial performance! 💪 Our mission is to achieve top-tier returns while driving a positive impact in Europe's investment ecosystem.   Here are some key takeaways: 🌟 Europe as the Global Leader in Impact Investing: One-third of 2023's €53bn European VC investment fueled startups tackling United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 🌱 Values-Driven Investments: 88% of VCs leverage impact frameworks, guided by personal values and fund missions. 📊 Diversity = Success: A resounding 87% of VCs and LPs believe diversity drives better returns, with a strong focus on founding team diversity (82% VCs, 77% LPs). Proud to be a member of European Women in VC! Download the report here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eTB3w448 Founders Forum Group Tech Nation Kerstin Jorna Marjut Falkstedt Louis Taylor Ilkka Paananen Hermann Hauser Pia Santavirta Matias Kaila Marie Campagne Rachael Reid Brent Hoberman Paul Donovan Fredrik Hånell Diva Tommei Adeline Lemaire Antigoni Lymperopoulou Carolyn Dawson Kelly Chen Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau Saemundur K (Saemi) Finnbogason Najada Kumbuli Shiva Dustdar Folake Shasanya Lucian Wagner Jacqueline Ruedin Rüsch Angelica Morrone Cesare Pezzini Greta Lazzarini Cecilia O.

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A powerful speech. Worth hearing https://lnkd.in/eFvsmaq8

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📣 Major Update for French Founders and VC Firms! 🚀 Versible eu We have built a full database of all the private funds investing in #Seed, #SeriesA, and #SeriesB across nearly every sector in the #French ecosystem. As part of our mission, we are developing the next generation of venture capital management software. Our goal is to streamline the fundraising process and enhance investor relations for founders and investors throughout Europe. Each of our initiatives aims to shine a spotlight on the hardworking individuals who are shaping the future of the world. Stay tuned for Monday 27th. #Venturecapital #Seed #Lafrenchtech #LegalTech #Agriculture #Mobility #Deeptech #FoodTech #InsurTech #BioTech #HealthTech #Realestate #Web3

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🌏 Open Banking & Bank Infra start-ups: what's the trend?  🌎 📊 📈 We’ve been hearing about “building for banks” but if we actually break it down, it seems to break into four segments: 1️⃣  Bank systems (CBS/LOS/LMS), 2️⃣ Credit Card Issuing and Management (CCMS), 3️⃣ Tech enabled banks 4️⃣ Account Aggregator model (AA) for open banking 💡 🎯 I’ve taken a look at Rev X (last valuation / ‘23 revenues). On average (out of the 10 I got details for), “building for banks” fintechs are trending at Rev X of ~21x. This is in line with what fintechs were trending at at IPO: ~19.6x. Deep dive: https://lnkd.in/ghb5w8iS 💡 📊 Visa is betting on this space. It acquired Tink (AA, Sweden) in 2024, Pismo (CCMS, Brazil) in 2022, and bid for Plaid (AA, USA) in 2020. And maybe more in the future? 1️⃣ Core Banking  / Lending Management Systems: Rev X: 11.3x - 20x ✅ Falcon: Founded 2012 (went through pivots), Raised 2 seed rounds, last round in 2022, HQ: India ✅ M2P: Founded 2016, Valued: ~$600M, Rev in’23: $53M, Rev X: 11.3x, HQ: India ✅ Lentra: Founded 2018, Valued: $400M, Rev in ‘23: $20M, Rev X: 20x, HQ: India ✅ Constantinople: Founded 2022, Raised $50M in 2024 Series A, HQ: Australia 2️⃣ Credit Card Issuing & Management: Rev X: 30-40x, only 1 ex, so may not be accurate M2P & Falcon who provide banking systems, also provide credit card issuing / management solutions. ✅ Pismo: Founded 2016, Valued: $1B at Visa acquisition in 2024, Rev in ‘23: $25M+, Rev x: ~30-40x, HQ: Brazil ✅ Hyperface: Founded 2021 by ex-Juspay founder, Valued: $65M, HQ: India ✅ Pomelo: Founded 2021, Valued: $100M+, HQ: Argentina 3️⃣ Tech enabled banks (fintechs with banking license): Rev X: 11.59 - 12x These banks provide payments infrastructure, as well as APIs to banks in their network. In the sample I’ve looked at, this segment seems to have the highest revenues. They also raised at higher multiples: ~11-20x. This is higher than what Indian banks are at as of ‘24 (range from 5x - 8x). And similar to start-ups building for bank systems. ✅ Cross River Bank: Founded 2008, Valued: $3B, Rev in ‘23: $150M+, Rev x: 12-20x, potential IPO in 2025, HQ: USA ✅ Solaris: Founded 2016, Valued: $1.6B, Rev in ‘23: $138M, Rev x: 11.59x, HQ; Germany 4️⃣ AA model (open APIs):  Rev X: 20 - 200x It’s possible some of these companies are overvalued. Plaid (200x), and Yapily (66x - 100x) seem to be trending on the higher side ✅ Perfios: Founded 2008, Valued: $1B+, Rev in ‘23: $50M, Rev x: 20x, HQ: India ✅ Tink: Founded 2012, Valued: $2B at acquisition by Visa in 2022, Rev in ‘23: $32M, Rev X: 62.5x, HQ: Sweden ✅ Plaid: Founded 2013, Valued: $13.4B, Visa acquisition bid $5B in 2020, Rev in '23: $64M, Rev X: 200x, HQ: USA ✅ True Layer: Founded 2016, Valued: $1B, Rev in ‘23: $45M, Rev X: 22x, HQ: UK ✅ Yapily: Founded 2017, Valued: $200-300M, Rev in ‘23: $3M, Rev X: 66-100x, HQ: UK For the detailed article, and more pieces like this, click here: https://lnkd.in/gYjh6H2c

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ummary: A French startup, FlexAI, has raised €28.5 million in seed funding to create a cloud service for AI training. The company aims to simplify the complex process of accessing and managing computational resources for AI development. Key takeaways: FlexAI's founders have impressive backgrounds in engineering and AI development. The company's goal is to make AI compute infrastructure as easy to use as general purpose cloud services. FlexAI's cloud service will allow developers to access virtual heterogeneous compute across multiple architectures on a usage basis. Counter arguments: Some may argue that there are already existing AI compute solutions in the market, such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. There may be concerns about data privacy and security when using a cloud service for AI development. ummary: A French startup, FlexAI, has raised €28.5 million in seed funding to create a cloud service for AI training. The company aims to simplify the complex process of accessing and managing computational resources for AI development. Key takeaways: FlexAI's founders have impressive backgrounds in engineering and AI development. The company's goal is to make AI compute infrastructure as easy to use as general purpose cloud services. FlexAI's cloud service will allow developers to access virtual heterogeneous compute across multiple architectures on a usage basis. Counter arguments: Some may argue that there are already existing AI compute solutions in the market, such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. There may be concerns about data privacy and security when using a cloud service for AI development. #venturecapital #vc #venture

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🌟 Europe! It’s time to boldly build together to create a better and brighter system of care. 🌟 It was energizing for Alexandre Momeni and myself to meet with so many talented entrepreneurs and leaders across pharma, payers, providers and policy at HLTH Europe, all committed to making a difference in European healthcare. Here are a few of takeaways: ✅ An ambitious new generation of European digital health innovators is emerging. Following in the footsteps of Sword Health, Alan and Doctolib, companies like Doccla, Nabla, Corti and Causaly are pioneering world-class solutions to bridge the critical gaps in Europe’s healthcare infrastructure. They are creating a future instead of optimizing the present and their success will raise the bar, attracting more talent and investment in the space. ✅ Our academic health systems are undergoing a ‘renAIssance’. Lighthouse health systems like Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Guy's and St Thomas'​ NHS Foundation Trust and Greater Paris University Hospitals - AP-HP are re-imagining their business models to shift care out of the hospital, making strategic investments and embracing innovative solutions to leapfrog their most pressing challenges, including with (Gen)AI. AI is not just a tool for efficiency; it’s a catalyst for more effective healthcare. ✅ Radical collaboration is the path to success. HLTH, with over 3,500 attendees from over 60 countries convening in Amsterdam, is proof that when we are bold and join together as a community, bringing the best minds and hearts together to engage and share ideas, we make progress. This is critical in Europe where the geographic and regulatory complexities of the market means greater coordination and intentionality is needed to achieve real system-level change instead of diffuse pockets of innovation. As an investor in European digital health for over a decade, I’m excited by how vibrant the ecosystem is becoming. At General Catalyst, we are committed to creating, investing, partnering and operating to enhance the resilience of European healthcare — all in the pursuit of Health Assurance. Let’s seize this moment!

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