[EN] Axeleo Capital raises €50 million for its new early-stage fund AXC2

Article Date
September 13, 2022
Category
Press Release

➔  Axeleo Capital announces the first closing of its €50 million successor fund named AXC2.

➔  Successor to Axeleo Capital 1, AXC2 will be dedicated to financing and supporting B2B technology startups specialized in cybersecurity, B2B FinTech, and SaaS.

➔  Invested in France and Europe, this capital is intended to fuel the growth of young companies in the seed phase via initial investments of between €0.2M and €1.5M.

➔  The funding round for this new fund will remain open until Q2 2023. Axeleo Capital's ambition is to bring this new fund to €80 million.

Paris, September 13, 2022 – Axeleo Capital (AXC), a French venture capital firm specializing in early-stage companies, announces the first closing of its new €50 million fund AXC2. The Fonds National d'Amorçage du Programme d'Investissement d'Avenir managed by BpiFrance and Tikehau Capital are investing in this new fund alongside some 60experienced tech entrepreneurs.

AXC2 also receives financial support from its historical partners such as the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region via Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Investissement, Vinci Energies,Caisses Régionales du Crédit Agricole de Centre-Est, Île de France and Sud Rhône-Alpes, Caisse d'Épargne Rhônes Alpes, BNP Paribas as well as several leading family offices.

With €135 million under management in its thematic funds, Axeleo Capital (AXC) confirms the relevance of its model and strengthens its presence in the seed tech investment sector through the launch of its successor fund.

"With this successor fund, we are consolidating our historical roots in the tech sector, particularly in cybersecurity, B2B fintech and software. We are pursuing our mission to be the leading seed partner for tech entrepreneurs. By relying on our network of experienced entrepreneurs in France and Europe, we aim to support founders in their daily development, to bring their organization and business model to maturity, to bring them to the forefront of the European technology scene and to finance them through our follow-up strategy during series A and B."

Eric Burdier – General Partner and co-founder of Axeleo Capital

Through this new fund, Axeleo Capital will invest in France (70%), and in Europe (30%). This capital will fuel the growth of companies offering applications around Cybersecurity - one ofthe major axes of this new fund, Enterprise Software, B2B Fintech, Crypto & Web 3.0,Cloud and SaaS B2B solutions, ...

AXC2 will invest in the early stage in around 30 startups and will then support the most promising projects in this portfolio in subsequent rounds, series A and B, up to €5M per line, thus replicating the model of its previous fund Axeleo Capital 1, which recorded strong performances. Axeleo Capital already supports startups such as Trustpair, Aplo (ex-Sheeldmarket), 365 Talents, Cumul.io, Jenji (acquired in September 2022 by Silae), Alsid (acquired in 2021 by Tenable), Cloudskiff (acquired in 2021 by Snyk) and Hyperlex(acquired in 2022 by Dilitrust).

"Building a successful software solution in an environment as scalable and competitive as Trustpair's is a real challenge. Axeleo Capital's market understanding, tech expertise and guidance have been a key element of our success since they joined in early 2018 when we were only 4 people."

Baptiste Collot – CEO and co-founder of Trustpair

Axeleo Capital has made the first 4 investments of this new fund including Formance, a French startup that went through Y Combinator and is developing an Open-Source platform for orchestrating complex payments. The other three belong to the Machine Learning, Web3 and Cloud sectors.

After having closed a first fund dedicated to these themes of €45 million in 2017 (AxeleoCapital 1); as well as a €40 million fund dedicated to the development of Proptech / Contechin 2020 (Axeleo Proptech 1), Axeleo Capital continues to write its history by focusing on a combination that has made the fund successful: intensive operational support and financing of innovative technology startups from the seed phase. Finally, Axeleo Capital has been committed to ESG since 2020 with the signature of the Sista Charter, the ParityCharter of France Invest and the Principles of Responsible Invest of the UN.

About Axeleo Capital

Axeleo Capital is an early stage venture capital company (pre-seed, seed), created in January 2017, which invests in France and Europe on the following themes: Enterprise Software, Cybersecurity, B2B Fintech, Crypto & Web3.0, Proptech & Construction tech. Axeleo Capital provides a unique framework for early stage startups, combiningequity investments from pre-seed to seed, operational and strategic support through to Series B, and an active ecosystem of over 100 high-level partners and mentors involved in several success stories in France and Europe.Axeleo Capital manages €85M to date in thematic VC funds and has more than 45 investments in its portfolio including Alsid (sold to Tenable), Cloudskiff (sold to Snyk), Jenji (sold to Silae), Trustpair, 365Talents, Cumul.io, Joko, Garantme Beantsock and Prello. For more information: www.axc.vc.

Contact: eburdier@axc.vc